ARMENIA: After a 24-hour military attack against ethnic-Armenian forces, the president of Azerbaijan declared that his nation’s sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh had been reestablished.
Ilham Aliyev praised the Azerbaijani army’s bravery after Karabakh forces surrendered. The South Caucasus enclave, which is accepted internationally as being a part of Azerbaijan, is home to over 120,000 ethnic Armenians. Azerbaijan now seeks to fully control the breakaway territory.
Its army ordered the Karabakh forces to overthrow their “illegal regime” as part of an “anti-terror” campaign. After a nine-month siege without neighbouring Armenia’s assistance, the ethnic Armenians capitulated.
The charges were promptly refuted by Azerbaijan, which was accused by Armenian officials on Wednesday evening of opening fire on troops near the border town of Sotk after the truce had been agreed upon.
The army claimed to have taken over 90 positions from ethnic Armenians before Russian peacekeepers announced a ceasefire at 13:00 local time on Wednesday.
Local Karabakh forces are required to be disbanded and disarmed under the truce parameters set by Azerbaijan and Russia. Despite Armenia’s government denying military presence, there is a commitment to withdraw its forces.
Delegates from Baku and Karabakh began discussing reintegration issues in Yevlakh. President Aliyev stated that Azerbaijanis have nothing against the people but only against their “criminal junta.” Yevlakh, located 100 km north of Karabakh’s regional centre, Khankendi, is referred to as Stepanakert.
According to reports, Russia’s troops have evacuated 5,000 civilians since the start of the offensive.
Officials in Karabakh urged the populace to stay in shelters and avoid the nearby airport, which is next to a Russian peacekeeping base. However, as soon as citizens started congregating close to the airport, it was uncertain what assistance they would receive as darkness set several hours later.
The Russian peacekeepers must assume complete responsibility for the local population’s protection, according to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who made it plain that his country was not a party to the ceasefire agreement. He said on Tuesday that Karabakh had undergone “ethnic cleansing” by Azerbaijan.
Nagorno-Karabakh, a hilly region in southwest Azerbaijan, has been the site of two conflicts since the fall of the Soviet Union. In 2020, a six-week conflict resulted in thousands of deaths, allowing Azerbaijan, supported by Turkey, to retake territory. Azerbaijan blocked the Lachin Corridor, the only route from Armenia into Karabakh, for nine months.
Armenia, a member of Russia’s CSTO military alliance, has seen its interest in Moscow diminish due to its war in Ukraine. Approximately 2,000 Russian peacekeepers were planned to supervise the 2020 ceasefire. Armenia’s prime minister, Pashinyan, expressed willingness to recognize Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan in exchange for the safety of the ethnic Armenian community.
At a conference in Kyiv earlier this month, his wife Anna Hakobyan, shook hands with the president of Ukraine. This week, US and Armenian soldiers participated in joint military drills.
The Kremlin has refuted Armenian claims of insufficient support. Even if Russia has no issues with the prime minister of Armenia, President Vladimir Putin remarked last week, “If Armenia itself recognised that Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan, what should we do?”
Protesters in Yerevan have demanded the prime minister’s resignation and warned of potential coup plots.
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