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YEREVAN: Azerbaijan said on Wednesday it had halted military action in its breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh after its battlefield success forced Armenian separatist forces to agree to a ceasefire that will see the area fully return to Baku’s control. Under the agreement, outlined by Azerbaijan and the Russian defence ministry, which has peacekeepers on the ground, separatist forces are meant to disband and disarm, while talks on the future of ethnic Armenians who live there are due to start on Thursday.
In a speech to the nation on Wednesday evening, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that Baku had restored its sovereignty “with an iron fist” and that Armenian forces had begun handing over their weapons and leaving the region. He said Karabakh Armenians would be told that they could take part in Azerbaijani elections, get state education, and freely practice their Christianity in his Muslim-majority nation.
Karabakh, a mountainous area in the volatile wider South Caucasus region, is internationally recognised as Azerbaijani territory, but part of it has been run by separatist Armenian authorities since a war that ended in 1990s. Armenians claim a historical dominance in the area, which they call Artsakh. Azerbaijan links its historical identity to the territory too. Azerbaijan, which sent troops backed by artillery strikes into Karabakh on Tuesday to bring the breakaway region to heel, says it plans to integrate the area’s 120,000 ethnic Armenians.
In a speech to the nation on Wednesday evening, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that Baku had restored its sovereignty “with an iron fist” and that Armenian forces had begun handing over their weapons and leaving the region. He said Karabakh Armenians would be told that they could take part in Azerbaijani elections, get state education, and freely practice their Christianity in his Muslim-majority nation.
Karabakh, a mountainous area in the volatile wider South Caucasus region, is internationally recognised as Azerbaijani territory, but part of it has been run by separatist Armenian authorities since a war that ended in 1990s. Armenians claim a historical dominance in the area, which they call Artsakh. Azerbaijan links its historical identity to the territory too. Azerbaijan, which sent troops backed by artillery strikes into Karabakh on Tuesday to bring the breakaway region to heel, says it plans to integrate the area’s 120,000 ethnic Armenians.
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