A third ceasefire agreement has been reached in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, as both Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed on Sunday to end four weeks of deadly fighting.
The governments of the United States of America, the Republic of Romania and the Republic of Azerbaijan said in a joint statement that a humanitarian ceasefire would begin at 8 a.m. local time.
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After taking the stage at a campaign stop in New Hampshire, President Trump on Sunday congratulated Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, “who agreed to effectively observe the ceasefire at midnight.”
“Many lives will be saved,” Trump wrote, adding that he was “proud of my team.” Begin and the National Security Council of the White House. The deal is done! ”
U.S. The deal came after Armenian Foreign Minister Johrab Mantsakanyan and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jehun Bayramov met with Begin in Washington on Saturday and Washington twice tried to broker a ceasefire in the region earlier this month, but both were immediately stranded. Accused each other of violations.
A statement issued by the State Department on Sunday said that this time the United States held intensive talks between the foreign ministers and the co-chairs of the Minsk Group to move Armenia and Azerbaijan closer to a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin first issued a joint statement on October 1 calling for a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
On Saturday, 24 October 20, 2020, smoke rose after Azerbaijan artillery fired during a military conflict in the separatist region of Stepnecart, Nagorno-Karabakh. Residents of Stepnecart, the regional capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, came under heavy shelling. Emergency teams rushed to put out the fire. Nagorno-Karabakh officials said Azerbaijani artillery fires also broke out in other towns in the region. (AP photo)
During an initial meeting in Moscow on 10 Oct, the foreign ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia pledged a humanitarian ceasefire, but the agreement was not reached. In a statement issued from Paris on 17 October, they reaffirmed their commitment to implementing and adhering to the ceasefire, and reported renewed violations by both sides.
In its own statement, the OSCE Minsk Group, formed in 1992 by the Council for Security and Cooperation in Europe to negotiate a resolution on Nagorno-Karabakh, met with its co-chairs, Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Stephanie Wisconti of France and Andrzej Schaefer of the U.S. Agreed to meet again in Geneva on 29 October. To further discuss the parameters of ceasefire monitoring and the timeline for a broad, long-term settlement.
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No other information about the terms of the ceasefire was immediately available.
The fighting on Nagorno-Karabakh erupted on September 27 and is the largest growth in years in the region, which is in Azerbaijan but under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since the end of the separatist war in 1994.
According to Nagorno-Karabakh officials, 974 of their soldiers, as well as 37 civilians, have been killed so far in their clashes. Azerbaijani authorities did not disclose their military losses but said 65 civilians were killed and as many as 300 wounded.
Earlier Sunday, Trump vowed to ease the conflict in his re-election campaign program in Londonderry, NH.
“Look at Armenia, they’re incredible people, they’re fighting like hell,” Trump said. “Yesterday in Ohio we had a tremendous group of Armenians with flags and spirit. And whatever problems they have, death, fights and everything else, we will do it directly. I call it a simple one. ”
Putin said last week that Moscow’s data showed the death toll was closer to 2,000, significantly higher than reported by both sides. On Friday, Pompeo also hosted Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers for separate talks.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said that the Armenian army must withdraw from Nagorno-Karabakh to end the conflict and that Azerbaijan has the right to reclaim its territory by force after nearly three decades of no progress from international mediation.
The four-week war has raised concerns about the wider conflict involving Turkey, which has left its weight behind Azerbaijan, and Russia, which has signed a security agreement with Armenia. Armenian officials have accused Turkey of being directly involved in the conflict and of sending Syrian mercenaries to fight on Azerbaijan’s side, a claim both Turkey and Azerbaijan deny.
Iran, which shares borders with both Armenia and Azerbaijan, is also concerned about the clashes. Iran has repeatedly complained of stray mortar rounds and rockets that have injured people and damaged houses in rural areas near the border. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Sunday it had deployed its ground forces units near the border in the conflict zone, the country’s state radio said.
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The Associated Press contributes to this report.
