Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh have agreed to a Russian proposal for a ceasefire whose terms signal the now Azerbaijan region return to Baku’s control.
Under the agreement, “separatist forces will disband and disarm,” and will discuss future terms of the region and the fate of ethnic Armenians who live there.
Aykhan Hajizada, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, told Al Jazeera: “After the disarmament and withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces, peace will finally come to the region and the puppet regime will be disbanded.”
This news comes in the midst of Christian Armenians living in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh – an ancient Armenian region brought under Azerbaijani rule in 2020 known historically as Artsakh – being brutalized and murdered since Turkey joined forces with Azerbaijani co-religionists against Armenia.
Now you can be a witness how Armenians who lived for thousands of years in #Artsakh / #Karabakh are forced to leave their homeland. #Azerbaijan is finishing its genocidal plan while the international community is "deeply concerned".
Now you can see how history is happening pic.twitter.com/jWTjgiFV1Z— Kornelij (@Kornelij) September 20, 2023
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said that “all weapons and heavy armaments are to be surrendered” under the supervision of Russia’s 2,000-strong “peacekeeping force on the ground.”
Terrified of what the future might hold for Armenians living in the region, families have spread throughout the airport in Stepanakert – the capital of Karabakh, which is known as Khankendi by Azerbaijan.
The Azerbaijan sent troops backed by artillery strikes into Karabakh on Tuesday, announcing its plans to integrate the area’s 120,000 Christian Armenians while falsely claiming that their rights will be protected under the constitution.
“They are basically saying to us that we need to leave, not stay here, or accept that this is a part of Azerbaijan – this is basically a typical ethnical cleansing operation,” Ruben Vardanyan, a former top official in Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian administration, told Reuters.
“The authorities of the Republic of Artsakh accept the proposal from the command of the Russian peacekeeping contingent to cease fire,” separatists said in a statement.
Armenia, which says it has no military forces in Karabakh despite Azerbaijani assertions, did not intervene militarily.
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