The authorities of the self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, which the Armenians call Artsakh, yesterday accepted the demands of Azerbaijan: stop fighting and disarm. The cessation of hostilities agreement seems to put an end to the offensive launched by the Baku forces on Tuesday and which threatened a new war, the third, between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the protector of this territory.
The hostilities have caused more than 30 confirmed deaths in this region of the South Caucasus. Among the dead are Russian soldiers from the peace contingent, whose commands have been vital to reaching the agreement.
The announcement is a great victory for the Azerbaijani president, Ilham Aliyev, determined to regain control of this region populated mostly by Armenians, but within Azerbaijan, after three decades. Baku justified its military offensive by the death of six "civilians and policemen" due to the explosion of several mines placed by Armenian "saboteurs".
Focused on its military intervention in Ukraine, which has already lasted more than a year and a half, Russia has been crucial in reaching the agreement. The command of the Russian peacekeeping contingent carried out the mediation, Nagorno-Karabakh authorities said.
Thus ended 24 hours of hostilities. The clashes have left at least 34 dead between the warring parties. Karabakh separatists reported 32 dead and more than 200 wounded, while evacuating 7,000 residents in 16 localities. The Azerbaijani side reported two civilians killed.
There were also casualties among Russian peacekeepers. "During his return from an observation post, on September 20 one of his cars was shot at with small arms," the Russian Ministry of Defense reported. The soldiers inside the vehicle were killed, without specifying how many.
Russian peacekeeping forces (about 2,000 soldiers) have been deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh since the peace agreements that put an end to the 2020 war. This week they organized the evacuation of about 2,000 civilians from the most dangerous areas.
The cease-fire pact includes the withdrawal of the remaining units and soldiers of the Armenian army remaining in the deployment zone of the Russian peacekeeping contingent, the dissolution and disarmament of the Nagorno-Karabakh army and the withdrawal of weapons and heavy equipment "for their disposal". Baku confirmed the suspension of its military operation after the announcement.
"The issue of the reintegration of Nagorno-Karabakh (to Azerbaijan), the guarantee of rights and security of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians within the framework of the Constitution of Azerbaijan, according to the agreement, will be discussed in a meeting between representatives of the local Armenian population and those of the central authorities of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the city of Yevlax on September 21, 2023 and during subsequent meetings," said the statement of the Karabakh authorities.
The Azerbaijani city is 265 kilometers west of Baku and 100 kilometers east of Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, which in Azerbaijan is called Jankendi.
Karabakh separatists said that in their offensive, Azerbaijani forces had broken through their lines and taken several strategic heights and road crossings while the world stood by and did nothing. In these circumstances, the Republic of Artsakh had no other option but to cease hostilities.
The Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Paixinian, denounced on Tuesday an "aggression" by Azerbaijan that had as its purpose the "ethnic cleansing" of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh. But yesterday he judged it "very important" that the fighting stop.
He also assured that his country "did not participate" in the drafting of the cease-fire agreement and affirmed that Armenia already has military units in the region since August 2021. Baku maintains the opposite.
Nagorno-Karabakh is an Armenian-majority territory, but internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.
In the 1992-1994 war between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the latter emerged victorious. Nagorno-Karabakh proclaimed itself an independent country and Armenia occupied several surrounding Azerbaijani provinces as a security zone. In the 2020 war, Baku's army recovered two-thirds of these territories lost three decades earlier.
The offensive that Azerbaijan has launched this week has been registered after subjecting the region to a blockade of more than nine months. In December 2022, he cut off the Latchin corridor, the only communication route between Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
