YEREVAN, Armenia, September 20, 2023 — Azerbaijan and Armenian forces have agreed to a cease-fire to halt two days of intense fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. This area has been a long-standing flashpoint for decades, with officials from both sides confirming the agreement on Wednesday.
The cease-fire came into effect an hour after it was announced, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan noted that the intensity of hostilities in the region had significantly decreased. Azerbaijani authorities also declared a halt to their military operation, which had been launched the previous day, in response to separatist officials' announcement of laying down arms. However, there was some uncertainty about whether sporadic fighting continued.
On Tuesday, Azerbaijan unleashed heavy artillery fire on Armenian positions in Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous region that is legally part of Azerbaijan but had been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces since a separatist war in the 1990s. This latest round of fighting resulted in numerous casualties and exacerbated the already dire humanitarian situation for local residents who have been grappling with food shortages for months.
The escalation had raised concerns about the potential for a full-scale war in the region to erupt again, given the longstanding struggle between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The most recent heavy fighting occurred over six weeks in 2020 when Azerbaijan reclaimed parts of the region and surrounding areas that were lost during the earlier separatist war.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has often involved powerful regional players, including Russia and Turkey. Turkey had supported Azerbaijan, while Russia had taken on a mediating role and brokered the armistice that ended the 2020 fighting. Russian peacekeepers were tasked with monitoring that truce, and both sides acknowledged their role in facilitating the current cease-fire agreement.
Scheduled talks between Azerbaijani officials and ethnic Armenian authorities in the region regarding its potential reintegration into Azerbaijan were set to take place on Thursday.
The agreement outlines the withdrawal of Armenian military units and equipment from Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as the disarming of local defense forces, according to Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry. Prime Minister Pashinyan of Armenia stated that his government was not directly involved in negotiating this deal but acknowledged the decision made by the separatist authorities in the region.
Azerbaijan had claimed it launched the operation on Tuesday as part of an "anti-terrorist operation" and vowed to continue until "illegal Armenian military formations" surrendered. They accused Armenia of smuggling weapons into the territory since the end of the separatist war, leading to a blockade of the road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, resulting in food and medicine shortages.
Armenia’s Foreign Ministry denied the presence of its weapons or troops in Nagorno-Karabakh, and Prime Minister Pashinyan accused Azerbaijan of trying to draw Armenia into hostilities.
Before the cease-fire took hold, Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, and other villages were reportedly subjected to intense shelling. Significant damage was visible in Stepanakert, with shop windows blown out and vehicles punctured by shrapnel. The fighting had also disrupted the electricity supply, forcing local residents to seek refuge in basements and bomb shelters. Food shortages persisted, with limited humanitarian aid delivered on Monday remaining undistributed due to the ongoing shelling.
Geghan Stepanyan, Nagorno-Karabakh's human rights ombudsman, reported that 32 people, including seven civilians, were killed, and more than 200 others were wounded. He previously confirmed the death of one child and injuries to 11 children.
Azerbaijan's Prosecutor General’s Office claimed that Armenian forces fired on Shusha, a city in Nagorno-Karabakh under Azerbaijan’s control, resulting in the death of one civilian. Independent verification of these claims remains pending.
Russia's Defense Ministry announced that its peacekeeping contingent had evacuated over 2,000 civilians, although specific destinations were not disclosed. On Tuesday, thousands of protesters in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, rallied to demand that authorities protect Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, with some clashes with police reported. Protests continued in Yerevan following the announcement of the cease-fire agreement on Wednesday.
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