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A ceasefire was agreed on Saturday afternoon in Armenia and Azerbaijan in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Saturday’s announcement in a joint statement by the negotiating parties.
The document highlights that the joint statement was adopted in response to a call from Russian President Vladimir Putin in line with the agreements between the Russian, Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders. The Kremlin press service said Tuesday night that Vladimir Putin had asked the parties to the war for Nagorno-Karabakh to stop fighting.
The purpose of the humanitarian ceasefire, writes the MTI, is to exchange the bodies of fallen prisoners and soldiers with the assistance of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Sergei Lavrov added that Yerevan and Baku agreed to start talks on a peaceful solution to the conflict.
In the Russian capital, talks began on Friday between Sergei Lavrov of Russia, Armenian Zograb Mnacakanjan and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Ceyhun Bayramov. The discussions lasted more than ten hours.
The Nagorno-Karabakh affiliation, which was mainly inhabited by Armenians, has been the subject of open debate between Baku and Yerevan since February 1988, before the collapse of the Soviet Union. The area was ravaged by Azerbaijan in the 1992-1994 war with the support of Armenia, 30,000 people lost their lives and hundreds of thousands were forced to flee. The provincial parliament declared the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh in 1996, but this has not been recognized by any country, not even Armenia. Azerbaijan continues to regard the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave as its own territory, as does Armenia essentially. The ceasefire that has been in force since 1994 is regularly violated by both sides. The fighting resumed on September 27.
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