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Azerbaijan took control of the Lachin region, the last of three areas that the military should occupy under the terms of a trilateral ceasefire declaration in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Units of the Azerbaijani army entered the Lachin region in accordance with an agreement to end the war. This was reported on the night of December 1 in the country’s Ministry of Defense.
The department’s video shows how a convoy of military equipment, including a tank with an Azerbaijani flag, moves down a night highway.
VIDEO
Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Azerbaijan / YouTube
“According to a trilateral declaration signed by the Presidents of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Russian Federation and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, units of the Azerbaijani army entered the Lachin region on December 1,” the Defense Ministry said. .
The military published a video of the raising of the Azerbaijani flag in one of the buildings in the occupied area.
VIDEO
Video: Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Azerbaijan / YouTube
This is the last of the three areas that the Azerbaijani army should occupy according to the trilateral ceasefire declaration in Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan has already occupied the Kelbajar and Aghdam regions.
Under the terms of this declaration, Armenia had to liberate the Kelbajar and Aghdam regions by November 20 and the Lachin region by December 1. Armenia petitioned Azerbaijan through Russia with a request to be granted a delay for the withdrawal of troops and civilians from the Kelbajar region until November 25.
In addition, the declaration foresees the deployment of a Russian peacekeeping contingent worth 1,960 soldiers along the Nagorno-Karabakh line of contact and along the Lachin corridor.
On November 16, Russia sent 140 planes with its peacekeepers to Nagorno-Karabakh. The media reported that Russian peacekeepers had deployed multiple Grad launch rocket systems in the land corridor between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
In 1991, Nagorno-Karabakh, with the support of Armenia, declared its independence from Azerbaijan. This led to hostilities that lasted until 1994. The armed conflict ended with the signing of the Bishkek Protocol on Armistice and Ceasefire, but from time to time armed clashes broke out between the parties. During the conflict, more than 30 thousand people died in the region. Azerbaijan considers Nagorno-Karabakh as a territory occupied by Armenia.
On September 27, 2020, the biggest conflict in recent years broke out in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry accused Armenia of “large-scale provocation”, bombardment of the Azerbaijani army positions and announced the beginning of a “swift counteroffensive”. The Armenian authorities, in turn, stated that the Azerbaijani army had launched an offensive against Nagorno-Karabakh. During the conflict, the parties used tanks, heavy artillery and aircraft. There were reports of soldiers and civilians killed and injured.
Martial law was introduced both in Armenia and in certain regions of Azerbaijan. Both countries involved in the conflict announced mobilization. Agreements on an armistice were reached in Nagorno-Karabakh on several occasions, but each time they were violated.
The representative of the Nagorno-Karabakh “authorities”, Vahram Poghosyan, said on 9 November that the army of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh republic no longer controls the key city of Shusha, and Azerbaijani troops are on the outskirts. from Stepanakert, the capital of Karabakh.
Pashinyan said that the decision to sign a declaration to end the war in Nagorno-Karabakh was extremely difficult for him, but that there was no alternative. Aliyev stressed that Pashinyan was “forced” to sign a document “more beneficial” for Baku. Following the signing of agreements to resolve the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, representatives of the Armenian opposition demanded Pashinyan’s resignation.
