Azerbaijan and the Armenian separatists of Nagorno Karabakh held initial talks on Thursday on a reintegration of this secessionist territory where the Azerbaijani army has just won a lightning victory.
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No press conference was planned after these negotiations which took place for around two hours in Azerbaijan, in Yevlakh, a town 295 km west of the capital Baku.
A column of black 4X4s arrived at the scene of the discussions, followed by a vehicle on which a Russian flag flew and bearing Russian army license plates.
According to images broadcast by the official Azerbaijani news agency Azertag, six men in suits then sat around a table. Among them, a representative of Nagorno Karabakh was visible, David Melkoumian.
The day before, Hikmet Hajiev, an advisor to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev, assured that Azerbaijan had “the objective of the peaceful reintegration of the Armenians of Karabakh” and a “normalization” of relations with Armenia.
No mass evacuation
During a telephone conversation with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Russian President Vladimir Putin asked that “the rights and security” of the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh – where they are the majority – be guaranteed by Baku.
The military success of the Azerbaijanis is fueling fears of a massive departure of the 120,000 inhabitants of this enclave.
For the moment, Armenia has affirmed that no mass evacuation from Karabakh is planned immediately.
In Geneva, Armenia, which described the Azerbaijani military operation as a “crime against humanity”, affirmed in this regard before the UN Human Rights Council that “ethnic cleansing” was “in progress”.
More than 10,000 people, including women, children and the elderly, have already been evacuated from Nagorno Karabakh, a separatist official said Wednesday evening.
Russian peacekeepers, deployed in this disputed region since the end of the last war in the fall of 2020, claimed Thursday morning to have taken care of around 5,000 of them.
Baku denies breaking ceasefire
When the talks began in Yevlakh, shots, the origin of which is currently unknown, were heard in Stepanakert, the capital of the Armenian separatists, by an AFP correspondent present on site.
“The Azerbaijani armed forces used different weapons from the surroundings of Stepanakert, violating the ceasefire agreement” which came into force on Wednesday, the secessionists accused.
Allegations immediately qualified as “disinformation” by Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov.
Aroutioun Gasparian, a businessman from Stepanakert, simply spoke of a small exchange of fire outside the city.
“We are sitting at home and waiting for the results of the negotiations (in Yevlakh). Everyone in the city is sitting at home or in their garden, waiting,” he added.
“Peaceful reintegration”
According to the latest assessment of the Armenian separatists, the Azerbaijani offensive which ended in 24 hours at midday on Wednesday left at least 200 dead and 400 injured.
The Russian Defense Ministry announced that two Russian soldiers were killed on Wednesday when their car was fired upon.
President Aliev also presented “his apologies” to Mr. Putin on Thursday for these soldiers who fell during the Azerbaijani offensive.
Cornered by the firepower of Azerbaijani units and Armenia’s decision not to come to their aid, the separatists agreed to hand over all their weapons and participate in initial talks on “reintegration” into Azerbaijan of Nagorno Karabakh.
At the same time, an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council is planned for the afternoon.
Fearing that the resumption of hostilities would destabilize the entire Caucasus, the West and Russia, for which it is an “internal matter” of Azerbaijan, called on Tuesday for an immediate end to the fighting.
The Azerbaijani authorities launched their “anti-terrorist” operation that day following the death of six people in the explosion of mines planted, they claimed, by Armenian “saboteurs”.
Pashinian under pressure, Aliev strengthened
The capitulation of the separatists increased pressure on the Armenian Prime Minister, criticized for not having sent aid to Nagorno Karabakh.
The day after clashes in front of the government headquarters, thousands of demonstrators, supporters of the separatists, gathered again on Wednesday evening and incidents broke out with the police.
Nikol Pashinian “must leave, he cannot lead the country,” declared one of them, Sarguis Hayats, a twenty-year-old musician.
On Thursday, the Prime Minister urged Armenians to take “the path” to peace, even if it is “not easy”.
Using the oil windfall to strengthen his army, the Azerbaijani president is on the verge of succeeding in his bet to regain control of Nagorno Karabakh, which was the scene of two wars between the former Soviet republics of the Caucasus. Azerbaijan and Armenia: one from 1988 to 1994 (30,000 deaths) and the other in the fall of 2020 (6,500 deaths).
Twenty-four hours after the launch of its assault, Azerbaijan “reestablished its sovereignty” over this territory, Ilham Aliev welcomed Wednesday.
While the Turkish head of state, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reaffirmed Ankara’s “unreserved support” for Baku the next day during a telephone interview with his Azerbaijani counterpart.
This victory “will certainly increase the popularity of Ilham Aliev”, in power for twenty years, underlined Shahin Hajiev, an independent Azerbaijani expert.