-Azerbaijan, Armenia sign Russian backed ceasefire agreement
DM Monitoring
MOSCOW/YEREVAN/BAKU: Russian peacekeeping troops deployed to the mountain enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh on Tuesday as part of a ceasefire deal to end six weeks of heavy fighting between Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenian forces.
Under the deal, Azerbaijan will keep territorial gains made in the fighting, including the enclave’s second city of Shusha, which Armenians call Shushi. Ethnic Armenian forces must give up control of a slew of other territories between now and Dec. 1.
Armenia’s defence ministry said military action had halted and calm had been restored in the breakaway territory, which is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but populated and, until recently, fully controlled by ethnic Armenians.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the deal should pave the way for a lasting political settlement of a conflict that has killed thousands, displaced many more, and had threatened to plunge the wider region into war.
NATO member Turkey, Azerbaijan’s main supporter and arms supplier, said the deal had secured important gains for its ally and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu hailed it as a “sacred success”. The ceasefire triggered celebrations in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, where cars and buses sounded their horns in delight and people cheered and waved the Azeri national flag.
“This (ceasefire) statement has historic significance. This statement constitutes Armenia’s capitulation. This statement puts an end to the years-long occupation,” Azeri President Ilham Aliyev said.
Some Azeris regretted fighting had ended before Azerbaijan controlled all of Nagorno-Karabakh and were wary of the arrival of peacekeepers from Russia, which dominated the region in Soviet times.
“We were about to gain the whole of Nagorno-Karabakh back,” said 52-year-old Kiamala Aliyeva. “The agreement is very vague I don’t trust Armenia and I don’t trust Russia even more.”
Unrest broke out in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, where crowds stormed and ransacked government buildings overnight, labelling the deal a betrayal. Some demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
