Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan

Pashinyan Signs Peace Treaty with Azerbaijan, Russia, Surrendering Shushi

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YEREVAN (Moscow Times) — Armenia and Azerbaijan have reached an agreement to end the war in Nagorno-Karabakh with immediate effect.

Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan first made the announcement on Facebook early Tuesday morning Yerevan time.

Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed details of the deal, brokered by Moscow, minutes later in a televised statement.

“I have signed a statement on the termination of the Karabakh war along with the Russian and Azerbaijani presidents,” Pashinyan wrote.

The agreement came into effect at 01:00 local time — minutes before the announcements.

The deal provides for “the complete cessation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh,” Putin said.

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Both sides will maintain their current territorial positions as part of the deal — meaning Azerbaijan will keep hold of the military gains it has achieved since the start of the conflict — and Armenia will return other occupied territories which it currently controls in phases over the next month.

That effectively means the return to Azerbaijani control of seven districts surrounding the core Nagorno-Karabakh region which Armenia seized during the 1988-94 conflict, as well as the culturally-important city of Shushi, which was the site of increased fighting Monday.

Meanwhile, Armenia will retain control over most of Nagorno-Karabakh itself. Azeri refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the 1988-94 war will be permitted to return to Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said.

A 2,000-strong Russian peacekeeping force will be deployed for a minimum of five years to protect the land corridor between Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Azerbaijan will also gain passage to its Nakhchivan exclave which is detached from Azerbaijan by a strip of Armenian land close to the border with Turkey and Iran. Russian forces will guarantee the roads connecting Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan.

Putin said he expects the agreement “will create the conditions for a long-term settlement.”

Aliyev celebrated victory in a television address Tuesday morning.

In a frantic day of fighting Monday, Azerbaijan also accidentally downed a Russian military helicopter, killing two Russian service personnel and injuring a third.

Pashinyan has come in for harsh criticism at home for military losses, with 17 Armenian opposition parties calling for his resignation Monday.

Angry protests in Yerevan erupted in reaction to Pashinyan’s announcement. Armenian protesters stormed the government headquarters in Yerevan, an AFP journalist said. Several thousand protesters had gathered outside the government building and a few hundred entered, ransacking offices and breaking windows, after Pashinyan announced the deal with Azerbaijan and Russia.

He said signing the deal was “unbelievably painful for me and our people,” but took the “decision as a result of a deep analysis of the military situation.”

Three previous ceasefire agreements broke down within minutes of being signed.

Pashinyan’s statement appears below:

Dear compatriots, sisters and brothers. I personally made a very hard decision for me and all of us.

I have signed a statement on the termination of the Karabakh war with Russian and Azerbaijani presidents from 01.00 pm. The text of the statement that has already been published is unbelievably painful for me and our people.

I made that decision as a result of a deep analysis of the military situation and appreciation of the people who have the best possession of the situation. Also based on the belief that this is the best solution in the situation created. I’ll write a message about it in the coming days.

It’s not a victory, but there’s no defeat until you know yourself. We will never know ourselves and this should be the start of our national unity, rebirth era.

We need to analyze our years of independence to plan our future and not repeat the mistakes of the past.

I kneel down to all our victims. I bow down to all our soldiers, killers, generals, volunteers who protected and protected their homeland with their lives. They have saved Artsakh by their personalities.

We fought till the end. And we will win. Artsakh is standing.

“Long live Armenia. Long live Artsakh.”

Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan said he agreed to end the war, taking into account the current difficult situation, in order to avoid further heavy human losses and the complete loss of Artsakh.

Harutyunyan wrote on his Facebook page that they had been discussing all day with Pashinyan the steps to be taken to end the hostilities, he had received the consent of the overwhelming majority of the deputies of the National Assembly of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

In the early morning of September 27, Azerbaijan launched an air-to-air missile attack on Artsakh, targeting both military facilities and civilian infrastructure, including in Stepanakert.

(Panarmenian.net contributed to this report.)

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