Armenia cedes disputed land to Azerbaijan in Karabakh peace deal

Armenia on Sunday was due to begin handing over disputed territory to Azerbaijan as part of a peace accord that ended six weeks of fierce fighting over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Residents of the Kalbajar district in Azerbaijan that was controlled by Armenian separatists for decades began a mass exodus of the mountainous province in the days leading up to the official withdrawal day.

AFP journalists saw fleeing residents pile furniture and kitchenware into vehicles before leaving for Armenia and some among the departing ethnic-Armenians said they had exhumed graves they feared would be desecrated by Azerbaijanis.

Thick plumes of smoke were rising over the valley near the village of Charektar after residents set their homes on fire preferring to leave devastation in their wake and homes that would be uninhabitable by Azerbaijanis.

A Russian peacekeeping contingent deployed this week to Nagorno-Karabakh.

They set up checkpoints and positions in the region's administrative centre, Stepanakert, as part of the terms of the accord that sees Armenia cede swathes of territory that Azerbaijan's forces gained in the fighting.

Moscow's peacekeeping mission, which the military said included soldiers that previously were stationed in Syria, comprises some 2,000 troops for a renewable five-year mission.

The ex-Soviet rivals agreed to end hostilities earlier this week after efforts by Russia, France and the United States to get a ceasefire fell through during the nearly two months of clashes.

A key part of the peace deal includes Armenia's return of Kalbajar, as well as the Aghdam district by November 20 and the Lachin district by December 1, which have been held by Armenians since a devastating war in the 1990s.

Outrage over peace deal

Armenia conceded on Saturday that 2,317 fighters were killed in clashes in which both sides accused the other of targeting civilian infrastructure.

Azerbaijan has not revealed its military casualties and the real toll after weeks of fighting is expected to be much higher.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said the number of fatalities had surpassed 4,000 and that tens of thousands of people had been forced to flee their homes.

Before departing en masse, Armenians flocked to the Dadivank monastery nestled in a gorge in Kalbajar for a final visit before it was ceded to Azerbaijan, with AFP journalists witnessing a dozen women ask to be baptised at the religious site.

Kalbajar was almost exclusively populated by ethnic Azerbaijanis before they were expelled by Armenians in the 1990s war following the breakup of the Soviet Union, and a majority of the homes being abandoned previously belonged to Azerbaijanis.

The Armenian government controversially subsidised the region's settlement by ethnic Armenians.

The peace accord with Azerbaijan has sparked a week of protests in Armenia where demonstrations and opposition parties are calling for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to resign.

The former head of Armenia's national security service Artur Vanetsyan was arrested on Saturday on charges of plotting to kill Pashinyan and seize power.

Azerbaijan has pushed for Ankara's involvement in the settlement and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said this week his country would jointly supervise the ceasefire with Russia.

Turkey, a key ally of Azerbaijan, was widely accused by Western countries, Russia and Armenia of dispatching mercenaries from Syria to reinforce Azerbaijan's army.

But Russia has ruled out Ankara's direct involvement in the peacekeeping mission and instead insisted Turkey would instead monitor the mission from an observation centre on Azerbaijan's territory.

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COURTESY DAWN NEWS

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Hakan Cavusoglu visits Ganja to investigate violations caused by Armenia's attacks on Azerbaijan

Hakan Cavusoglu finally noted that these purposeful crimes of Armenia in this territory are crime against humanity.

BAKU, NOV 14 - “A commission has been established under the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) to investigate the violations caused by Armenia's attacks on Azerbaijan, and we have started work on Azerbaijan since yesterday,” said Chairman of the Human Rights Committee of the Turkish Grand National Assembly Hakan Cavusoglu who is on a visit to Ganja.

According to him, the commission is the only commission established by law under the Turkish Grand National Assembly. Commission has the duty of investigating, identifying, reporting on human rights violations in the international arena in Turkey and abroad, preparing reports and presenting them at international forums: “The work we are doing in Azerbaijan is related to the investigation, analysis and preparation of reports on violations here. Azerbaijani Army started an operation to liberate its occupied territories, as occupation of Karabakh and 7 surrounding regions continued for 30 years and Armenia committed attacks on July 12 and 27. 

Battles were in occupied territories in Karabakh region and clashes occurred within the framework of Azerbaijani borders. But many rockets, projectiles shelled, attackes were committed by Armenia to the territories settled by civilians within the framework of great security. According to the protocols of the Geneva Convention, missile shelling on civilians far from battles by a country during any battle is a crime. 

From this point of view, Armenia’s attacks on Ganja, Barda, Terter, and other cities, where there is not military objects and settles by civilians, is a war crime. All of us know death of children, youth, older people, even persons of Armenian origin there.”

Hakan Cavusoglu finally noted that these purposeful crimes of Armenia in this territory are crime against humanity.

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COURTESY APA.AZ

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Azerbaijan response on statement of Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France

BAKU, NOV 12 (DN) - Statement of Jean-Yves Le Drian, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France on the statement signed by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia and President of Russian Federation on the cessation of all military operations is completely biased and contrary to its mandate as the co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group.

We should mention that the French Foreign Minister, with the statement that reflects a unilateral and clearly pro-Armenian position, has no authority to speak on behalf of the other co-chairs.

Unfortunately, we have not observed the French Foreign Minister making any statements during all these years based on its mandate as the co-chair and the country that voted as a permanent member of UN SC in favor of 1993 resolutions, on the implementation of the related UN Security Council resolutions.

We do not remember when the demand for an immediate end to the illegal presence of the armed forces of Armenia in the internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan and the return of those forcibly expelled from these territories was voiced by the French Foreign Ministry.

Maybe France is not interested in the gross violation of fundamental human rights of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis as a result of the conflict?!

France should not be concerned about Azerbaijan's legitimate efforts to ensure the country's territorial integrity within its international borders and restore the human rights of more than one million Azerbaijanis in full compliance with international law.=DN

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Pakistan welcomes deal signed between Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia to establish peace

ISLAMABAD, NOV 11 - Pakistan on Tuesday welcomed the deal signed between Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia to end the military conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region after more than a month of bloodshed.

A statement issued by the Foreign Office said Pakistan consistently supported resolution of the Nagorno-Karabagh dispute in accordance with international law and the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions.

“We welcome the recent announcement of cessation of hostilities by the relevant parties,” reads the press release. “The trilateral agreement facilitated by the Russian Federation offers a renewed opportunity for establishing peace in the South Caucasus region.”

Congratulating the government and “brotherly people” of Azerbaijain on the “liberation of their territories”, Islamabad hoped this will lead to an era of “stability and prosperity in the region and will pave way for the return of internally displaced persons to their ancestral lands.”

Armenia-Azerbaijain-Russia deal

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan first announced the signing on social media in the early hours of Tuesday and the Kremlin and Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev later confirmed the news.

“The signed trilateral statement will become a (crucial) point in the settlement of the conflict,” Aliyev said in a televised online meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Putin said Russian peacekeepers would be deployed along the frontline in Nagorno-Karabakh and the corridor between the region and Armenia.

Arayik Harutyunyan, the leader of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, said on Facebook that he gave agreement “to end the war as soon as possible”.

The declaration has followed six weeks of heavy fighting and advancement by the Azerbaijan’s forces. Baku said on Monday it had seized dozens more settlements in Nagorno-Karabakh, a day after proclaiming victory in the battle for the enclave’s strategically positioned second-largest city.

“The decision is made basing on the deep analyses of the combat situation and in discussion with best experts of the field,” Prime Minister Pashinyan said. “This is not a victory but there is not defeat until you consider yourself defeated. We will never consider ourselves defeated and this shall become a new start of an era of our national unity and rebirth.”

Armenian protesters marched to the prime minister’s official residence in Yerevan, Government House No. 1, after the ceasefire was announced, said local news outlet Norlur.am.

Videos seen on social media showed crowds inside the building, but the prime minister’s location was unclear.

Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict

The Nagorno-Karabakh fighting raised fears of a wider regional war, with Turkey supporting its ally Azerbaijan, while Russia has a defence pact with Armenia and a military base there.

Azerbaijan says it has since September 27 retaken much of the land in and around Nagorno-Karabakh that it lost in a 1991-94 war which killed an estimated 30,000 people and forced many more from their homes. Armenia has denied the extent of Azerbaijan’s territorial gains.

Several thousand people are feared killed in the flare-up of the conflict. Three ceasefires have failed in the past six weeks and Azerbaijan’s superior weaponry and battlefield gains have reduced its incentive to seek a lasting peace deal.

Azerbaijan said on Sunday it had captured Shusha, known by Armenians as Shushi, which sits on a mountaintop overlooking Stepanakert, the city regarded as the enclave’s capital by its ethnic Armenian administration.

President Aliyev announced a list of 48 settlements he declared liberated on Monday in several parts of the enclave.

An Azeri defence ministry video posted online showed Azerbaijan’s national flag flying over deserted streets in what it said was Shusha.

Armenia disputed that the city had fallen.

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Latest updates on Armenia’s act of aggression against Azerbaijan

BAKU, NOV 10 (DN) - Since September 27, 2020 the armed forces of Armenia have been targeting the civilian population, private houses and civilian infrastructure in Azerbaijan in a deliberate, widespread and systematic manner.

By doing so, Armenia grossly violates its obligations under international humanitarian law, including the 1949 Geneva Conventions and its Additional Protocols as well as disregards the humanitarian ceasefire declared on October 10, 18 and 26.

On November 7-9, Armenia continued to launch attacks in various directions, including across the international border with Azerbaijan. Dashkesen, Gadabay and Tovuz regions of Azerbaijan were subjected to artillery and mortar fire from the direction of Berd, Chambarak and Vardenis regions of Armenia.

Moreover, Armenia’s armed forces  subjected to artillery fire residential areas of Aghdam, Aghjabedi, Barda, Goranboy, Gubadli and Tartar regions. On November 7, as a result of artillery fire a 16 years-old boy was killed in a private house in Barda’s Yeni Ayrija village. The next day, a 58 years-old man was wounded in Tartar’s Aski Para village when an artillery shell hit the yard of his house.

As of November 8, Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) conducted clearance operations in two big cities and more than twenty regions of Azerbaijan that became targets of Armenia’s deliberate missile, rocket and artillery attacks. As a result of the operations, ANAMA found 345 unexploded explosive ordnance (UXO), 1177 pieces of 9N235 bomblets (cluster munition), 819 exploded missile parts and etc.

As of November 9, Armenia’s attacks inflicted 500 civilian casualties with 93 civilians killed, including children, females and elderly, and 407 civilians seriously injured. Moreover, 3326 private houses, 120 apartment buildings and 504 civilian infrastructures were destroyed or damaged.

Below are photo evidences of destruction / damage caused from Armenia’s attacks and ANAMA’s clearance operations:

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