Azerbaijan has “reestablished its sovereignty” over Nagorno-Karabakh, after a lightning victory over the Armenian separatists who “started” to lay down their arms, the Azerbaijani president welcomed on Wednesday.
“Most” of the forces and equipment of the Armenian separatists were “destroyed”, added President Ilham Aliev during a press conference, adding that the Armenian authorities had according to him demonstrated “political competence” in n not intervening directly in the conflict.
Defeated in 24 hours, the separatists announced in a press release the signing of “an agreement on a complete cessation of hostilities at 1:00 p.m. with the mediation of the command of the Russian peace forces”. According to them, the clashes left at least 200 dead and 400 injured. Armenia accused the Azerbaijani army in the evening of having opened fire with small arms on its positions on the border between the two countries, after the establishment of the ceasefire.
Macron asks for “guarantees”
On Wednesday evening, Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated that negotiations on the future of the enclave would take place with “the mediation” of Russian forces deployed on the ground. Emmanuel Macron asked the Azerbaijani president “to give guarantees on the rights and security of the inhabitants of Karabakh”
In detail, the ceasefire agreement, confirmed by Baku, provides for “the withdrawal of the remaining units and servicemen of the armed forces of Armenia” and “the dissolution and complete disarmament of the Army formations defense of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The separatists agreed to hold first talks on the “reintegration” of this territory into Azerbaijan on Thursday in the Azerbaijani town of Yevlakh.
On the eve of these discussions, Hikmet Hajiev, an advisor to the Azerbaijani president, assured that Azerbaijan had “the objective of the peaceful reintegration of the Armenians of Karabakh” and a “normalization” of relations with Armenia. He promised “safe passage” to Armenian separatist forces, ensuring that “all actions” carried out “on the ground” were coordinated with the Russian peacekeeping contingent.
Risk of massive departure of 120,000 Armenians
This Azerbaijani victory, however, fuels fears of a massive departure of the 120,000 Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh, while images broadcast by local media showed a crowd gathered at the airport, controlled by the Russians, of Stepanakert, the capital of the separatists. .
More than 10,000 people, including women, children and the elderly have already been evacuated from the enclave, an Armenian separatist official said Wednesday evening.
Putin hopes for a “peaceful settlement”
Totally absorbed by the war in Ukraine for more than a year and a half, Russia played a mediating role in the signing of this ceasefire, said the separatists and Baku. But Moscow, which judges that the crisis in Karabakh is an “internal affair” of Azerbaijan, has so far said nothing about the agreement.
Fearing that the resumption of hostilities would destabilize the entire Caucasus, the West and Russia had called for an immediate end to the fighting, as of Tuesday. Calls ignored by the Azerbaijani president – supported by his historic Turkish ally.