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It was just a few hours after Russia announced a ceasefire agreement in the disputed Karabakh region between Armenia and Azerbaijan, until the latter accused Armenia of violating the ceasefire, which observers say threatens to intensify the fighting again.
Earlier on Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that a ceasefire agreement had been reached in Karabakh, starting at noon today..
Lavrov added in a statement that “the ceasefire declaration will take effect from 12:00 today, Saturday October 10, for humanitarian purposes, and for the exchange of prisoners of war, detainees and corpses by the International Committee of the Red Cross “.
However, Hikmat Hajiyev, an adviser to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, said tonight that Armenia “did not abide by” the temporary ceasefire that began hours ago, and that this indicates the “hypocrisy of its policies.”“.
This came during a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Jihon Bayramov on Saturday, during which he referred to the temporary humanitarian truce between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which began with Russian mediation..
During a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Jihon Bayramov, Hajiyev said that the Armenian army attacked Azerbaijani sites and civilian residential areas after the ceasefire went into effect.
He continued, “Armenia has not committed to a temporary ceasefire, and this clearly shows that they are following a policy based on hypocrisy.”“Stressing that the military successes of his country have been transferred to the diplomatic arena and that Armenia “can no longer impose conditions.”
The Azerbaijani official stressed that: “Peace cannot be achieved in the South Caucasus unless the Armenian army leaves Azerbaijani lands.“.
Moscow had announced the achievement of a humanitarian truce after a tripartite meeting held on Friday between the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia, which lasted more than 10 hours in the Russian capital Moscow.
Observers say there are no guarantees for the implementation of the ceasefire agreement in Karabakh, in light of this chronic and intractable conflict with overlapping parties.
While others say that the Russian weight on this issue is a great guarantee, just as the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan was a direct intervention to try to influence, and this is, therefore, a fundamental guarantee.
Armenia has the support of Russia and observers say that the status quo in Karabakh (the occupation of the region by Armenia) satisfies Russia’s interests seeking to consolidate its influence in the former Soviet republics..
Moscow is militarily allied with Armenia, which has a military base, but supplies both parties (Armenia and Azerbaijan) with billions of dollars in arms.
In a related context, Hajiyev discussed during the press conference the opportunities for Turkey’s participation in the solution path, noting that Ankara participates as a member of the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe..
He explained that what is happening in the region is of great concern to the Turkish side, which continues its efforts to achieve sustainable peace in the region..
He said that his country looks forward to an active participation of Turkey on the track as one of the leading countries in the region, whether in the framework of Minsk or other supporting tracks, and expressed confidence that “Turkey will make the necessary contribution in this sense”.
Since the outbreak of the new conflict, Turkey has declared its unconditional support for Azerbaijan, amid accusations by Armenia of providing Azerbaijan with various military capabilities and even spreading Turkish military drone technology in the region and transferring Syrian mercenaries to it..
Traditionally, Turkey provides diplomatic and moral support to Azerbaijan, its geostrategic partner, and is ethnically similar in the sense that its population is of the Turkish component.
For his part, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jihon Bayramov said that the danger of resuming military operations always exists in case Armenia does not return seriously to the negotiations and refrains from taking real action..
He noted that the main objective of the temporary truce is to remove bodies from the battlefield and exchange prisoners between the two parties, under the coordination of the International Red Cross..
He stressed that the victories achieved by Azerbaijan on the battlefield also contributed to its success in the diplomatic arena, noting that “the duration of the ceasefire has not been determined and will be linked to the actions that will be carried out in coordination with the Red Cross. International”.
Since the end of last month, the Azerbaijani army launched a military operation in Karabakh in response to what it said was an attack by the Armenian army in civilian-populated areas..
Azerbaijan says its army succeeded during battles that lasted 13 days (until the truce took effect on Saturday) to liberate the city of Gabriel, the city of Hadrut and more than 30 villages in the region from Armenian occupation.
Karabakh is a mountainous region that belongs to Azerbaijan under international law, but is inhabited and governed by people of Armenian descent..
The conflict broke out in Karabakh in February 1988, at which time the region was declared autonomous and separated from the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic..
During the armed clashes that raged between 1992 and 1994, Azerbaijan lost its control over the region and seven other adjacent regions, and the battles resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis from their homes in these areas..
Negotiations that have taken place since 1992 within the OSCE Minsk Group, led by three co-chairs: Russia, the United States and France, were unable to reach a peaceful solution to this conflict.
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