Azerbaijan announced a ceasefire in the Karabakh region on Wednesday after Armenian separatists who still control part of the disputed South Caucasus region agreed to lay down their weapons and start negotiations to return the territory to Azerbaijan according to internationally recognised borders, thus avoiding a military escalation in the region that could lead to a new war in the Caucasus.
According to the Baku government, the agreement is said to have been reached with the mediation of Russian peacekeepers in the region, and the separatists have agreed to a “total dismantling” of their forces, surrendering their weapons, and the withdrawal of Armenian forces from the area. “The issues proposed by Azerbaijan on reintegration of the territory, and ensuring the rights and security of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh… will be discussed at a meeting between representatives of the local Armenian population and the central government of the Republic of Azerbaijan,” the Armenian separatist authorities said.
The two sides have reportedly agreed to begin negotiations in the Azeri city of Yevlax on Thursday to return the remaining territory of Karabakh still held by pro-Armenian forces to Azerbaijan, after months of tensions and what Baku described as “provocations” by Armenia, which it accused of smuggling weapons into Karabakh territory in breach of agreements reached after the 2020 war. Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan expressed his support for the “anti-terrorist operation” against Armenian separatists at the UN yesterday: “We have always supported negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. But Armenia has not kept its promises,” he said, recalling that “Karabakh is Azerbaijan’s territory“.
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Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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