Terms of this ceasefire indicate the potential return of control over the area to Baku
\nBaku
\nAzerbaijan Wednesday announced the cessation of military operations in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, a breakaway territory, following the agreement of a ceasefire by Armenian separatist forces.
\nThe terms of this ceasefire indicate the potential return of control over the area to Baku.
\nAccording to the mutually confirmed agreement, which took effect at 1 pm (0900 GMT) on Wednesday, separatist forces will undergo disbandment and disarmament.
\nFurthermore, discussions regarding the future of the region and the ethnic Armenian population residing there are set to commence on Thursday.
\nKarabakh, a mountainous area in the volatile wider South Caucasus region, is internationally recognised as Azerbaijani territory, but part of it has been run by separatist Armenian authorities who call the area their ancestral homeland.
\nFearful of what the future might hold, thousands of Armenians massed at the airport in Stepanakert, the capital of Karabakh which is known as Khankendi by Azerbaijan. Others took shelter with Russian peacekeepers.
\nAzerbaijan, which sent troops backed by artillery strikes into Karabakh on Tuesday to bring the breakaway region to heel, says it plans to integrate the area\u2019s 120,000 ethnic Armenians and that their rights will be protected under the constitution.
\nBut some Armenians – given the region has been at the centre of two wars since the 1991 Soviet fall – are sceptical and neighbouring Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of trying to ethnically cleanse the territory, something Baku denies.
\n\u201cThey are basically saying to us that we need to leave, not stay here, or accept that this is a part of Azerbaijan – this is basically a typical ethnical cleansing operation,\u201d Ruben Vardanyan, a former top official in Karabakh\u2019s ethnic Armenian administration, told Reuters.
\nHe said that close to 100 people had been killed and hundreds more injured in the fighting. Reuters could not verify that.
\nArmenian PM under pressure
\nThe outcome, a military victory for Turkey-backed Azerbaijan whose forces far outnumbered the separatists, could cause political turmoil in neighbouring Armenia, where some political forces are angry that Yerevan was unable to do more to protect the Karabakh Armenians. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was already facing calls on Wednesday from some opponents to resign. Some Armenians are also furious that Russia, which has peacekeepers on the ground and helped broker an earlier ceasefire deal in 2020 following a 44-day war, was unable to stop Azerbaijan.
\nThe Kremlin rejected that criticism on Wednesday and President Vladimir Putin was quoted as saying that Russian peacekeepers would protect Karabakh\u2019s civilian population.
\nSeparatists running the self-styled \u201cRepublic of Artsakh\u201d said they had been forced to agree to Azerbaijan\u2019s terms – relayed by Russian peacekeepers – after Baku\u2019s army broke through their lines and seized a number of strategic locations while the world did nothing.
\n\u201cThe authorities of the Republic of Artsakh accept the proposal from the command of the Russian peacekeeping contingent to cease fire,\u201d they said in a statement. Azerbaijan had said it could no longer tolerate a situation it regarded as a threat to its security and territorial sovereignty.
\nHandover of weapons
\nSeparatist fighters were expected to leave Karabakh for Armenia and hand over their tanks and artillery later on Wednesday under the supervision of Russian peacekeepers.
\nArmenia, which says it has no military forces in Karabakh despite Azerbaijani assertions, did not intervene militarily.
\nIt was unclear how many ethnic Armenians would opt to stay in Karabakh.
\nRussia\u2019s defence ministry, which has thousands of peacekeepers on the ground, broadcast footage of Karabakh Armenians being given temporary shelter at a makeshift Russian military facility.
\nArmenian Deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovhannissyan told Reuters that Karabakh Armenians could \u201cin an ideal world\u201d live under Azerbaijani rule but that historical experience made it hard to imagine.
\nAzerbaijan\u2019s military operation had faced sharp criticism from the United States and some European countries.
\nThey said the Karabakh problem should have been solved through talks and that Baku\u2019s actions were worsening an already dire humanitarian situation on the ground following a nine-month blockade of the area by Azerbaijan that caused acute shortages of food and other staples.
\nHikmet Hajiyev, foreign policy adviser to Azerbaijan\u2019s president, on Wednesday, dismissed calls for UN Security Council involvement, saying any issues needed to be solved on the ground.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Terms of this ceasefire indicate the potential return of control over the area to Baku Baku Azerbaijan Wednesday announced the cessation of military operations in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, a breakaway territory, following the agreement of a ceasefire by Armenian separatist forces. The terms of this ceasefire indicate the potential return of control over the area […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357327,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-357309","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n