[ad_1]
“The Russians wisely took advantage of our victory. It seems that we are going back a hundred years: the imperialist” derzhava “, who has always imposed his interests on us, returns to throw his soldiers into the territory of our country for five, ten years, maybe more. After all, we have put so much effort to get rid of his influence. “Amin is angry and refuses to say his real name, because he works in the diplomatic sphere. He speculates that” many will be disappointed when the dust settles. “
The nine-point tripartite agreement, signed on the night of November 9-10 by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Russian President Vladimir Putin, provides for the immediate cessation of hostilities and the deployment of peacekeepers Russian.
That’s 2,000. Russian soldiers responsible for the security of the Armenian population in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, many of whose territories have been handed over to Azerbaijan.
They will be there for at least five years. Shortly before the signing of the agreement, the Azerbaijani army shot down a low-flying Russian military helicopter at Nakhichevan (far from the war zone) at night. Two crew members died. Such a serious military incident has received little comment from officials. Baku simply apologized for shooting down a Russian helicopter “by mistake,” according to an article in Le Monde.
November 17 An anti-Russian demonstration was held in the Callejón de los Mártires, a highly symbolic place dedicated to the memory of fallen heroes.
Waving the flags of Azerbaijan and Turkey, the crowd chanted “Putin, go home”; “We don’t want Russians in our country” and other slogans against Russia. The words “Turkey, come to our aid!” Were also heard. Police officers passively watched the protest.
It’s clear that the rally, if it wasn’t encouraged by government officials, was at least not banned, writes Paul Tavignot, a Baku writer for Le Monde.
“Without the Russians, there would be no Armenia!” – Ilgar Mamedov, who works as my travel agent in Baku. According to him, “The Russian army participated in the Khodali massacre [tragedija įvyko 1992 m., žuvo daugiau nei 600 žmonių]. Putin gives Armenians arms because they have no money and they sell them to us at a high price. The Russians have always supported the Armenians and crossed them with the Turks and with us. “
The presence of the Russian army, even if they are peacekeepers, worries Kenyan Rafiev, director of the Center for Contemporary Art. “I’m excited and I don’t know what will happen next. When Russians show up somewhere, it’s always hard to force them to leave, ”he explained.
Sadik Fethullah, a young merchant from Nagorno-Karabakh, is disappointed that “the army did not conquer all of Karabakh and did not defend all Armenians.” He humbly admits that “Russia is an empire. Nobody can do anything for her. The Russians have always been the strongest. “
Political scientist Kavus Abušov shares a similar opinion, notes the author of the article. “Russia is unpredictable, but without the same military power, it can do whatever it wants in the region. It maintained control from start to finish. In 1992, the Russian forces withdrew, but in fact Russia never withdrew from the region,” said an associate professor at the Baku State Institute for International Studies.
The expert recalls that the issue of the deployment of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh has been under discussion since 1994, when the previous conflict ended.
Azerbaijan has opposed the deployment for 20 years. “During the conflict, hopes were raised that the peacekeepers were mixed: 50%. Russians, 50 percent. Turks, – continues Abušov. – Azerbaijan is very disappointed with its Western partners, whose image has deteriorated significantly due to unilateral support for Armenia. France was particularly disappointed, but so was the United States. “
The political scientist assumes that the cards were shuffled at the last minute by Vladimir Putin’s military stratagem.
“President Aliyev agreed because on November 9. The downed helicopter felt the pressure and he just had no other choice. I think it was all thought out. I’m not 100 percent real, but the incident seemed to have been designed to legitimize. the presence of Russian troops in Nagorno-Karabakh. Of course, I do not rule out the possibility that Russian soldiers really play a stabilizing role, “he wants to believe, even without evidence.
And when it comes to angry or simply upset Azeris, everything has settled on its own: Russia has returned, sums up Le Monde.
Moscow’s role in stopping the fighting has diverted attention from France and the United States, which, along with Russia, form the so-called Minsk Group of Negotiators, which helped agree to a precarious ceasefire in the 1990s.
The three countries have tried three times to achieve a ceasefire in recent battles, but each time they have failed, blaming Yerevan and Baku for the violations.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian last week questioned the “uncertainties” of the new peace agreement, in particular the role of Turkey, an ally of Azerbaijan.
Russia claims that Ankara will not participate in the peacekeeping mission, although Baku says otherwise.
Since the peace agreement was announced, Armenian Prime Minister N. Pashinian has faced hostile backlash in his country and protests over the looting of government buildings call for his resignation.
Azerbaijan announced Wednesday that its forces had entered the second of three districts that Armenia would return under an agreement that ended weeks of fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
A statement from the Defense Ministry in Baku said that under an agreement signed earlier this month by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia, Azerbaijani troops “entered the Kelbecker region on November 25.”
The Kelbecker district, between the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region and the territory of Armenia, was due to surrender on November 15, but Azerbaijan postponed the deadline for humanitarian reasons.
“Engineering work has been completed to ensure the movement of our compounds in this direction, and complex mountain roads are being cleared of mines and prepared for use along the route of the military movement,” the ministry said in a statement. release.
Under an agreement that halted the attack by Azerbaijan, which regained parts of the territory occupied by Armenian separatists during the 1990s, Armenia agreed to hand over three districts around Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan: Agdam, Kelbecker and Lachin.
Agdam was abandoned on November 20 and Lachin will be delivered on December 1.
A few days before Kelbecker’s move, the residents of the district packed everything they could take with them, not wanting to leave anything to their old enemy.
AFP reporters saw locals collecting electrical cables, loading parts of a hydroelectric plant onto a truck, and even cutting down trees to remove them.
Azerbaijanis who fled the region almost 30 years ago should return and the Armenians, as local bricklayer Gagik Yachshibekian put it, do not want to leave them anything.
“It just came to our knowledge then [savo namus], trees are cut down, people take everything, “the 43-year-old man told AFP.
Clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh broke out in late September and rekindled the old conflict in the mountainous region.
The ethnic Armenian enclave separated from Azerbaijan during the war in the 1990s and declared its independence, but is still recognized by the international community as part of Azerbaijan.
The peace agreement was reached after six weeks of heavy fighting in which the Azerbaijani army crushed the Armenian separatist forces and threatened Nagorno-Karabakh main city, Stepanakert.
It is strictly forbidden to use the information published by DELFI on other websites, in the media or elsewhere, or to distribute our material in any way without consent, and if consent has been obtained, it is necessary to indicate DELFI as the source .
[ad_2]
