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Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev announced today that his armed forces have taken control of the Agdam region. Photo Archive
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev announced today that his armed forces have taken control of the Agdam region, a territory ceded to Armenia under a ceasefire agreement that ended another outbreak of armed conflict over the enclave. Nagorno-Karabakh government in dispute, the Associated Press reported. , cited by BTA.
Russia’s truce last week provides for Armenia to cede control of some of its territories outside Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan. Agdam is the first of them that Yerevan broadcasts.
“Today, with a feeling of infinite pride, I announce to my people the release of Agdam,” Aliyev said in his speech. “Agdam is ours!” He emphasized.
Many celebrating the waving of the national flag gathered in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, to celebrate the return of the Agdam region.
Aliyev also noted that the transfer of the territory was carried out “without a single shot or casualties” and called it a “great political success”, made possible by the “brilliant victory obtained on the battlefield.”
Although the return of Agdam region, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, Baku is a triumph for the people joy mixed with pain and anger. The region’s capital Agdam, once home to 50,000 people, famous for its white houses and beautiful three-story teahouses, is now in ruins and is sometimes referred to as “Caucasian Hiroshima.” Today, the only building completely unscathed is the mosque.
The Moscow agreement, which Azerbaijan celebrates as its victory, was greeted with despair and anger by many Armenians. Mass protests broke out in the Armenian capital Yerevan immediately after the peace agreement was announced, and many ethnic Armenians began to leave the territories to be handed over to Azerbaijan en masse, setting their homes on fire as they left.
After the new protests in Yerevan yesterday, the situation is calm today, TASS reported. Traffic in the Armenian capital is normal.
Yesterday, opposition supporters demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attempted to block some of the city’s central boulevards. The police managed to get them off the road and after about an hour traffic in the capital resumed. Opposition activists have been arrested. The forces of order continue on duty in the government buildings and the Parliament of the republic.
The opposition demands the resignation of the prime minister because he believes the ceasefire agreement of Nagorno Karabakh is a de facto capitulation and the prime minister is to blame for the economic and internal social problems of the country. Pashinyan himself said that after the fall of the city of Shushi, the fighting on the Armenian side had lost its meaning because from that moment on, Yerevan could no longer achieve a breakthrough in hostilities.
On Wednesday, Pashinyan presented a 6-month action plan, which he said aims to ensure the stability of Armenia.
Addressing the people on Monday, President Armen Sargsyan called for early parliamentary elections and the transfer of power to a government of national consent. Today, Sargsyan appointed a new Armenian defense minister after widespread criticism of the government over the truce, which confirmed Azerbaijan’s military success in Nagorno-Karabakh after six weeks of fighting, Reuters reported.
A decree posted on the presidential website states that Sargsyan fired Davit Tonoyan as Defense Minister, a position he has held since May 2018, and appointed Vagarshak Harutyunyan, who has held the position from 1999 to 2000 Even before it was announced. Tonoyan’s dismissal, the Armenian newspaper Aravot reported that he had resigned.
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