Azerbaijan hails end of Armenian separatists’ advance in Nagorno-Karabakh

Azerbaijan's president on Wednesday hailed the country's restoration to "full sovereignty" over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region as ethnic Armenian forces agreed to lay down their weapons.

Authorities in the Armenian region declared that the local defence force will disarm and withdraw all weaponry under a Russia-mediated ceasefire following the latest bout of fighting in the decades-long separatist conflict.

President Ilham Aliyev in a televised address hailed his soldiers, while offering the ethnic Armenians of the Nagorno-Karabakh region prospects of cooperation, reconciliation and joint development.

"In just one day, Azerbaijan fulfilled all the tasks set as part of local anti-terrorist measures" and "restored its sovereignty", the president said, adding he now wished to integrate Karabakh's population and turn the region into "paradise".

He said Azerbaijan had nothing against Karabakh's Armenian people – "they are our citizens" – but only against their "criminal" separatist leadership.

His words appeared aimed at addressing allegations by Armenian leaders that Baku planned to "ethnically cleanse" Karabakh's 120,000-strong Armenian population amid decades of mistrust between the two nations.

The Azerbaijan army on Tuesday launched an "anti-terrorist" operation, unleashing an artillery barrage and drone attacks against outnumbered and undersupplied pro-Armenian forces.

Nagorno-Karabakh human rights ombudsman Gegham Stepanyan said at least 200 people, including 10 civilians, were killed and more than 400 others were wounded in the fighting. He said earlier that children were among the dead and wounded.

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Russia and America condemned the “bloodshed” and called for an “immediate” end to hostilities between Azerbaijan and Armenians in the contested region.

French president Emmanuel Macron spoke with Mr Aliyev and "condemned Azerbaijan's decision to use force ... at the risk of worsening the humanitarian crisis" and "compromising ongoing efforts to achieve a fair and lasting peace", his office said.

Russian peacekeepers in a statement on Thursday said they have taken in about 5,000 Karabakh residents after evacuating them from dangerous areas. Thousands of Armenians also gathered at the airport of the regional capital, Stepanakert, in a bid to flee the conflict.

Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan in an address to the nation said the fighting decreased following the truce, emphasizing that Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh are fully responsible for its residents’ security.

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"If peacekeepers have proposed a peace deal, it means that they completely and without any reservations accepted the responsibility of ensuring the security of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, and provide the conditions and the rights for them to live on their land and in their homes safely," he said, according to the Associated Press.

Mr Pashinyan, who has previously recognised Azerbaijan's sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh, said Armenia wouldn't be drawn into the fighting. He said his government didn't take part in negotiating the deal, but "has taken note" of the decision made by the region's separatist authorities.

Protesters rallied in the Armenian capital of Yerevan for a second straight day Wednesday, blocking streets and demanding that authorities defend Armenians in Karabakh.

Azerbaijan's move to reclaim control over Nagorno-Karabakh raised concerns that a full-scale war in the region could resume between the two nations, which have been locked in a struggle over Nagorno-Karabakh since a separatist war there ended in 1994.

During another war that lasted for six weeks in 2020, Azerbaijan reclaimed broad swaths of Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent territories that were held for decades by Armenian forces.

More than 6,700 people died in the fighting, which ended with a Russian-brokered peace agreement. Moscow deployed about 2,000 peacekeeping troops to the region.