Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh need security guarantees before giving up their weapons, an adviser to the leader said, a day after Azerbaijan announced that it had returned the separatist region to its control.

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Edited by| Tony Wild

 

Politic section -  CJ journalist

 

Nagorno-Karabakh - September,21,2023

 

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The Armenian authorities in Karabakh accused Azerbaijan of violating the ceasefire agreed on Wednesday after a hijacked Azerbaijani attack forced the separatists to agree to disarm.

The Defense Ministry in Baku said the claim that its troops had violated the ceasefire was"completely false".

The Reuters news agency quoted two sources in the main city of Karabakh as saying they heard heavy gunfire on Thursday morning, but it was unclear who was firing.

The shooting and conflicting accounts highlighted the possibility of further bloodshed despite the agreement reached by both sides 24 hours ago, after which Azerbaijan announced that it had regained sovereignty over Karabakh after 35 years of conflict.

"We have an agreement on the cessation of military action, but we are waiting for a final agreement," David Babayan, an adviser to the Armenian separatist leader in Nagorno-Karabakh, Samvel Shahramanyan, told Reuters. Conversations are ongoing. We need to talk and we have a lot of questions and issues".

"We have not reached a final agreement yet,"he added.

When asked about giving up arms, Babayan said that his people cannot be left to die, security guarantees are first".

"There is still a whole range of questions that need to be answered,"he added.

Peace talks between the government of Azerbaijan and a delegation of Armenians from the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh region began on Thursday.

Photos published by the Azerbaijani state media showed the two delegations sitting with representatives of the Russian peacekeeping mission (in the city of yevlakh).

The Azerbaijani presidency said representatives of the two sides agreed to meet again soon, after a first round of talks following Baku's defeat of Karabakh forces this week.

The Azerbaijani delegation presented the Karabakh Armenians with plans for their integration into Azerbaijan during the talks in the Azerbaijani city of yevlakh, the presidency said.

Azerbaijan said on Wednesday it had regained full sovereignty over the breakaway region after a brief military offensive.

This will be the first attempt in thirty years to discuss the rights and security of Karabakh Armenians as Azerbaijani citizens.

Shooting was reported in Stepanakert, the main city of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Crowds of residents are still at the headquarters of the Russian peacekeeping forces at an airport outside the city, hoping for a safe passage for departure.

The Azerbaijani president announced the restoration of his country's sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh after a 24-hour military attack on ethnic Armenian troops.

Ilham Aliyev praised the heroism of the Azerbaijani army hours after the Karabakh troops agreed to surrender.

About 120 thousand people belonging to the Armenian ethnicity live in the internationally recognized South Caucasus region, part of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan now intends to bring the separatist region under its full control.

The Azerbaijani army launched an "anti-terrorist" operation on Tuesday, demanding that the Karabakh forces surrender and dissolve their "illegal regime".

In the absence of any means of support from neighboring Armenia, and after an effective nine-month siege, the Armenian troops soon surrendered.

According to Armenian officials, at least 32 people were killed, including seven civilians, and 200 others were injured. But an Armenian human rights official put the death toll at 200, while more than 400 others were injured. The BBC has not been able to verify these figures.

Armenian officials on Wednesday evening accused Azerbaijan of opening fire on troops near the town of Sutekh on the border between the two countries after the ceasefire was agreed, but Azerbaijan immediately denied these accusations.

Earlier in the day, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of the Armenian capital, Yerevan, to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan due to his handling of the crisis.

The Azerbaijani army said it had captured more than 90 positions from Armenians before the two sides announced that they had reached an agreement on a complete cessation of aggression through Russian peacekeepers, starting at 13:00 local time ( 09:00 GMT) on Wednesday.

Under the terms of the truce, set by Azerbaijan and Russia, which have peacekeepers on the ground, the local Karabakh forces must commit to completely disband their entity and surrender their weapons.

They should also commit to withdraw, although their government denies having any military presence there.

President Aliyev said that the Azerbaijanis have nothing against the population, but only oppose the "criminal military junta".

Yevlakh is located about 100 kilometers north of khankendi, the capital of the Karabakh region, known to Armenians as Stepanakert.

 

 

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