Both Azerbaijan and the Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh expressed their willingness to continue the talks that began Thursday, the day after Baku announced its victory in a rapid military operation it launched in the disputed region for decades.
The Azerbaijani presidency described the talks, which lasted for about two hours in the city of Yevlakh, 295 kilometers west of the capital, Baku, as “constructive,” adding that a new meeting would be held “as soon as possible.”
The separatists said in a statement: “The two parties particularly stressed the need to discuss all existing problems in a peaceful atmosphere, and expressed their readiness to continue the meetings.”
A convoy of black four-wheel-drive cars arrived at the negotiations site on Thursday morning, followed by a vehicle surmounted by the Russian flag and bearing Russian army registration plates. Afterwards, six men in suits sat around a table, including the Nagorno representative, David Melkomyan.
Hikmet Hajiyev, advisor to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, confirmed ahead of the talks that Baku wants “the peaceful reintegration of Armenians in Karabakh, and also supports the normalization process between Armenia and Azerbaijan.”
40 thousand families
At the same time, Gegam Stepanyan, head of the separatist organization for the defense of human rights in Nagorno-Karabakh, announced on Thursday that the streets of the regional capital, Stepanakert, were “filled with hungry and frightened displaced persons,” the day after this separatist region, inhabited by an Armenian majority, surrendered to Azerbaijan after 24 hours of fighting.
He said on the “X” platform: “People are desperately searching for each other and making calls to get news about their relatives.”
During a telephone conversation with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Russian President Vladimir Putin requested that Baku guarantee the “rights and security” of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, where they constitute the majority.
In the same context, French President Emmanuel Macron affirmed France’s “firmness in its calls to respect the rights and security” of the people of Karabakh, reiterating France’s “determination to work to deliver humanitarian assistance to the civilian population without any obstacles.”
The Azerbaijani military victory raises fears of a mass exodus of the population of this enclave, estimated at 120,000 people, according to Agence France-Presse.
Currently, Armenia has confirmed that it is not planning mass evacuations.
However, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced Thursday in a television interview that his country is ready to receive “40,000 refugee families,” stressing in return that there is no “direct threat” to the local population.
On Thursday, the Armenian Prime Minister also accused Russia, which has deployed a battalion in Nagorno-Karabakh since the last war in 2020, of failing in its peacekeeping mission in the aforementioned Armenian-majority region.
Pashinyan said in a televised speech: “I do not think we should ignore the failure of the peacekeeping battalion in Nagorno-Karabakh.”
“ethnic cleansing”
After the military operation launched by Baku forces, Armenia accused Azerbaijan on Thursday before the United Nations Human Rights Council of committing “ethnic cleansing” and “crimes against humanity” in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“More than 10,000 people have been evacuated from their areas of original residence” in Nagorno-Karabakh, including women, children and the elderly, said the region’s human rights ombudsman, Gigham Stepanyan, on Wednesday evening.
The Russian peacekeeping force deployed in this region provided care services for approximately 5,000 of these people.
Meanwhile, gunfire of unknown origin was heard in Stepanakert as talks began in Yevlakh, according to what Agence France-Presse confirmed at the scene.
On Thursday, Moscow announced that it had monitored five ceasefire violations in Karabakh, the day after it was announced as part of the surrender of Armenian separatists.
Nikol Pashinyan confirmed on Thursday evening that despite “isolated violations,” the ceasefire that took effect on Wednesday was respected “in general.”
The outcome of the Azerbaijan attack
The latest toll issued by the separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh confirmed that the military operation launched by Azerbaijan, which lasted 24 hours and ended at noon on Wednesday, led to the killing of at least 200 people and the injury of more than 400 others.
For its part, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced on Wednesday that a number of members of the peacekeeping force were killed as a result of gunfire targeting the car in which they were traveling.
Azerbaijan confirmed on Thursday that six Russian soldiers from the peacekeeping force were killed during the attack in Karabakh.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev offered an “apology” to President Vladimir Putin for the shooting deaths of the soldiers, according to what the Kremlin announced Thursday.
On Wednesday, Aliyev announced that his country had “restored sovereignty” over the region under a ceasefire agreement, the terms of which included the separatists agreeing to lay down their weapons and hold talks with Baku.
Fearing that renewed violence would destabilize the entire Caucasus region, the West and Russia, which considers the “Karabakh issue to be Azerbaijan’s internal matter,” called for an immediate cessation of fighting on Tuesday.
The Azerbaijani authorities launched their “anti-terrorism” operation on Tuesday after four policemen and two civilians were killed in the explosion of two mines in Karabakh, and Azerbaijan holds the separatists responsible for these “terrorist” acts.
The separatists’ defeat, the second in three years, has revived internal criticism in the face of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who is accused of abandoning the Armenians, who constitute the majority of the region’s population.
For the second day, demonstrators gathered on Wednesday outside the Prime Minister’s headquarters, and confrontations took place between them and the police, while many demonstrators demanded Pashinyan’s departure.
On Thursday, Pashinyan called on Armenians to take the “path” towards peace, even if it “is not easy.”
The Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is inhabited by a majority of Armenians, has been the focus of a long-standing conflict. The former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia fought two wars over it, one between 1988 and 1994 that killed 30,000 people, and the second in 2020 ended with the defeat of Yerevan.
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2023-09-21 20:19:11
