Peaceful Meetings Continue as Ceasefire Holds: Separatists Express Readiness in Press Release

“The parties particularly emphasized the need to discuss all existing issues in a peaceful environment and expressed their readiness to continue the meetings“, for their part commented the separatists in a press release.

Despite “isolated violations“, the ceasefire that came into effect on Wednesday was “globally” respected.

A column of black 4X4s arrived on site in the morning, followed by a vehicle on which a Russian flag flew and bearing Russian army license plates. The day before, Hikmet Hajiev, an advisor to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev, assured that Azerbaijan had “aims for the peaceful reintegration of Karabakh Armenians“, who are in the majority there, and a “normalisation” relations with Armenia.

“40,000 families”

In the meantime, the streets of Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno Karabakh, are “filled with displaced, hungry and frightened people“, said Gegham Stepanian, the head of the separatist authority for the defense of rights, on social networks. During a telephone conversation with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Russian President Vladimir Putin, on this subject, requested that “rights and security“Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh are guaranteed by Baku.

The military success of the Azerbaijanis is fueling fears of a massive departure of the 120,000 inhabitants of this enclave. For the time being, Armenia said no mass evacuations were planned. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian nevertheless assured Thursday on television that the country was prepared to welcome “40,000 families“refugees, even if, he insisted, no “direct threat” does not weigh on the local population. Before the UN Human Rights Council, Armenia, which described it as “crime against humanity“the Azerbaijani operation, had earlier denounced a”ethnic cleansing” “in progress”.

While several thousand demonstrators gathered in Yerevan on Wednesday evening to demand his departure, the head of government urged Armenians to borrow “the path“peace, even if it is not “not easy“. He also accused Russia, a contingent of which has been deployed in Nagorno Karabakh since the last war of 2020, of having failed in its peacekeeping mission.

According to the latest assessment of the Armenian separatists, the Azerbaijani offensive which ended in 24 hours at midday on Wednesday left at least 200 dead and 400 injured. The Russian Defense Ministry announced that Russian soldiers were killed on Wednesday when their car was fired upon. President Aliyev presented on Thursday “ses excuses” to Mr. Putin, assuring that the guilty would be punished.