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The Prime Minister (PM) of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, first announced the signing on social media in the early hours of Tuesday (11/10). The Kremlin and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev later confirmed the news.
“The signed trilateral declaration will be an (important) point in the resolution of the conflict,” Aliyev told an online televised meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Putin said Russian peacekeeping forces will be deployed along the front line in Nagorno-Karabakh and the corridor between the region and Armenia. (Also read: Can you be a great president?)
Nagorno-Karabakh regional leader Arayik Harutyunyan said on Facebook that he gave his consent to end the war as soon as possible. (See infographic: Seven Economic Policies Joe Biden Will Take)
The statement follows six weeks of fierce fighting and the advance of Azerbaijani troops. Baku said on Monday it had seized dozens more settlements in Nagorno-Karabakh, a day after declaring victory in the battle for the enclave’s second-largest city. (Watch video: Getting closer to Habib Rizieq Shihab’s return to Indonesia)
“The decision was made on the basis of in-depth analysis of the combat situation and discussions with the best experts in their fields,” said Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan.
“It is not a victory, but not a defeat until you consider yourself lost. We will never consider ourselves defeated and this will be the new beginning of our era of national unity and rebirth,” he said.
The fighting has raised fears of a broader regional war, with Turkey backing its ally Azerbaijan, while Russia has a defense pact with Armenia and military bases there.
Azerbaijan says that since September 27 it has regained most of the land in and around Nagorno-Karabakh that was lost in the 1991-1994 war that killed some 30,000 people and forced many more from their homes.
Armenia denies the extent of Azerbaijan’s territorial advantages in the last conflict.
Several thousand people are feared to have died in the turmoil of the conflict. Three truces have failed in the last six weeks.
Azerbaijan’s superior weaponry and expanded control on the battlefield have reduced its efforts to achieve a lasting peace agreement.
Azerbaijan said on Sunday that it had captured the Shusha, known to Armenians as Shushi. Shusha is located on top of a mountain overlooking Stepanakert, a city considered the administrative capital of the Armenian ethnic group.
President Aliyev announced a list of 48 settlements that he said had been liberated in parts of the enclave on Monday.
Videos of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense posted online show the national flag of Azerbaijan waving over the deserted streets of a place called Shusha.
Armenia denies that the city has fallen into the hands of the Azerbaijanis.
(sya)
