Ceasefire Brings An End To Armenia-Azerbaijan Fighting In Karabakh Region

Military operations in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan have ceased after Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia reached an agreement this week.

“It is a historic day for our country today. An end is being put to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict today. I think that the trilateral statement that has just been signed will put a full stop in resolving the issue. The statement has been signed by the President of Azerbaijan, President of Russia and Prime Minister of Armenia,” President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan said in a televised public address on November 10, according to President.Az.

“The military phase is over, and we are moving on to the political stage. We have signed a document that favors our interests the most.”

According to the trilateral statement, Armenia will return to Azerbaijan the occupied Kalbajar district by November 15, the occupied parts of Aghdam district by November 20, and the occupied Lachin district by December 1.

The return of the internally displaced persons and refugees to the Nagorno-Karabakh region and surrounding districts under the supervision of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is also included in the document. Prisoners of war, hostages and other detainees, as well as bodies of the dead will be exchanged.

Russia will fulfill peacekeeping mission along the contact line in the Nagorno-Karabakh region and along the Lachin corridor with a contingent of 1,960 servicemen, 90 armored personnel carriers, and 380 units of an automobile and special equipment over the next 5 years. Control over the ceasefire will be exercised from a Russian-Turkish peacekeeping center. Deployment of the peacekeepers in the region kicked off on November 10 shortly after the announcement about the ceasefire statement.

Azerbaijan guarantees safety for the movement of citizens, vehicles and cargo in both directions along the Lachin corridor that connects Armenia with the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

All economic and transport links in the region will be restored. Armenia has agreed to guarantee the security of transport links between the western regions of Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic in order to organize the unimpeded movement of citizens, vehicles and cargo in both directions. Control over transport will be exercised by the Border Guard Service of the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia. Based on the agreement of the parties, the construction of new transport communications connecting Nakhchivan and the western regions of Azerbaijan will be ensured.

“This statement is actually tantamount to Armenia's military capitulation,” President Aliyev said.

President Aliyev went on to add that Turkish servicemen will be deployed in the peacekeeping center for the supervision of the fulfillment of ceasefire along with the Russian peacekeepers, meant Turkey will officially play a role in the future settlement of the conflict and monitoring the ceasefire.

"Today, during a conversation with my dear brother [Recep Tayyip Erdogan], we also exchanged views on the Turkey-Russia Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Center's activities. I think this is a significant step. It is a new format of cooperation in the region. We have always wanted Turkey and Russia to play an equal role in the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and we have achieved this," President Aliyev said in a meeting with Turkish foreign minister on Tuesday.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, commenting on the signing of the trilateral statement, said that he had no choice but to take such a step. "This decision was made as a result of an analysis of the military situation and advice from people who knew the situation best," the prime minister said, RBC reports.

The agreement triggered large-scale protests in Armenia on Tuesday. A crowd of people rushed to storm the government, and then the parliament buildings. The protesters burst into the government building, smashed Pashinyan's office and took the state symbols. They have then marched to the parliament, where they beat the speaker of the National Assembly Ararat Mirzoyan, who was reportedly hospitalized. PM Pashinyan promised to punish the instigators of the protests, calling on his supporters to believe him.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a decades-old conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is the internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan but occupied by Armenia. Following the Soviet Union’s dissolution in 1991, Armenia launched a military campaign against Azerbaijan that lasted until a ceasefire deal was reached in 1994. Armenia occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territories including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. Over 30,000 ethnic Azerbaijanis were killed and one million were expelled from those lands in a brutal ethnic cleansing policy conducted by Armenia.

Although the United Nations Security Council adopted four resolutions demanding the immediate withdrawal of the occupying forces from the Azerbaijani lands and the return of internally displaced Azerbaijanis to their ancestral lands, Armenia failed to comply with all four legally binding documents.

The latest fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan began on September 27 after Armenian forces deployed in the occupied Azerbaijani lands began shelling the military positions and civilian settlements of Azerbaijan. Prior to the end of the clashes on November 10, the Azerbaijani army liberated about 300 settlements, including the cities of Jabrayil, Fuzuli, Zangilan, Gubadli and Shusha, as well as dozens of villages, settlements and strategic heights in the districts of Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Zangilan, Gubadli, Tartar, Kalbajar, Khojavend, Khojaly, Shusha and Lachin.