Nagorno-Karabakh separatists were negotiating the end of their long struggle against Azerbaijani rule yesterday, surrendering their weapons after a lightning government offensive.
If the ceasefire holds it would mark the end of a conflict between Caucasus rivals Armenia and Azerbaijan that has raged, off and on, through the three decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
On Friday, Moscow confirmed that the rebels had surrendered their first weapons and the process is expected to continue through the weekend, with the help of Russian peacekeepers.
Photo: Reuters
Meanwhile, Germany called for the rights of the residents of the mountainous region to be guaranteed, as concern grew in the international community over the plight of the mainly Armenian-speaking civilians there.
A US congressional delegation was expected to meet Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to, in the words of the US embassy, discuss “the impact of Azerbaijan’s recent military actions on the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh.”
The years of fighting in the region have been marked by abuses on both sides, and there are fears of a new refugee crisis.
This week’s Azerbaijani offensive left tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians cut off from electricity in the disputed enclave.
In the Armenian border town of Kornidzor, civilians have been gathering, some of them waiting for days, at the last checkpoint before Azerbaijani territory hoping for news of relatives stuck in the embattled enclave.
“I’ve been here for three days and nights, sleeping in my car,” said 28-year-old Garik Zakarian, as displaced Armenians borrowed a soldier’s telescope to scan a village on the other side of the valley.
It was shelled by Azerbaijani forces on Tuesday. No one was killed, but witnesses who managed to escape reported that 150 inhabitants were forced to take refuge close to a Russian peacekeeper base a kilometer from the last Armenian positions.
Zakarian got his family out in December, three days before Azerbaijan blockaded the area, but he is worried for friends and family still across the border.
“I don’t have much hope of seeing them soon, but I couldn’t just do nothing. Just being here, being able to see the Russian base, I feel better,” he said.
A spokeswoman for the Nagorno-Karabakh breakaway region on Friday said that fearful civilians in the main city Stepanakert were hiding in their basements, with Azerbaijan’s forces camped on the outskirts.
The situation there was “horrible,” Armine Hayrapetyan said.
An Agence France-Presse reporter in the separatist stronghold said that food, water, medicine and fuel for the panicked population were scarce and displaced people had arrived in the city from surrounding villages.
International pressure has mounted on Azerbaijan to reopen the only road leading to Armenia, dubbed the Lachin Corridor, so that supplies and people can move in and out.
While the surrender of the separatists, after an offensive they said left 200 dead, has sparked jubilation among Azerbaijanis, it has put Pashinyan under increasing pressure.
He has faced criticism for making concessions to Azerbaijan since losing swathes of territory in a six-week war in 2020.
Police said that 98 people were arrested as anti-government demonstrators blocked streets in Yerevan for a third day on Friday.
Pashinyan has blamed peacekeepers from traditional regional power broker Russia — stationed around Karabakh since 2020 — for failing to avert Azerbaijan’s offensive.
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
A colossal explosion in the sky, unleashing energy hundreds of times greater than the Hiroshima bomb. A blinding flash nearly as bright as the sun. Shockwaves powerful enough to flatten everything for miles. It might sound apocalyptic, but a newly detected asteroid nearly the size of a football field now has a greater than 1 percent chance of colliding with Earth in about eight years. Such an impact has the potential for city-level devastation, depending on where it strikes. Scientists are not panicking yet, but they are watching closely. “At this point, it’s: ‘Let’s pay a lot of attention, let’s
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
CHEER ON: Students were greeted by citizens who honked their car horns or offered them food and drinks, while taxi drivers said they would give marchers a lift home Hundreds of students protesting graft they blame for 15 deaths in a building collapse on Friday marched through Serbia to the northern city of Novi Sad, where they plan to block three Danube River bridges this weekend. They received a hero’s welcome from fellow students and thousands of local residents in Novi Said after arriving on foot in their two-day, 80km journey from Belgrade. A small red carpet was placed on one of the bridges across the Danube that the students crossed as they entered the city. The bridge blockade planned for yesterday is to mark three months since a huge concrete construction
RSS