Armenia Azerbaijan Agreement

During and immediately after the conflict, Aliyev directed personal insults against Pashinyan. The mocking phrase „Ne oldu, Pashinyan?“ [„What happened, Pashinyan?“] in a speech delivered on November 10 on Azerbaijani and Turkish social networks. In recent weeks, his tone has changed somewhat, and Aliyev`s harshest language has been directed against former Armenian leaders – perhaps because he sees Pashinyan, the co-signatory of the November deal, as a key figure in meeting his demands. With Russia`s mediation of the ceasefire and the broader terms it contains, Russian President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed his country`s central role in the conflict as the undisputed leader of the region and became Armenia`s best and only ally, ready to take concrete action on the ground, if only to defend Armenia`s internationally recognized borders. Russia has also marginalized Turkey, which is not a party to the deal, forcing Ankara to negotiate its role as guarantor of Azerbaijan`s security with Russia in the ongoing follow-up negotiations on a joint Russian-Turkish ceasefire monitoring center. On November 10, 2020, a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement ended a forty-four-day Armenian-Azerbaijani war on the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, confirming a decisive Azerbaijani military victory. The agreement („Statement by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia and the President of the Russian Federation“) states: „In accordance with an agreement negotiated by the Russian side, the fire on the eastern part of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border has been stopped and the situation is relatively stable,“ the Armenian Defense Ministry said. The agreement imposed an immediate ceasefire, set a timetable for the withdrawal from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and the introduction of Russian peacekeepers, and established the need for new transport corridors. But there are ambiguities.

Already on November 10, 2020, it was reported that Russian troops and tanks, which were supposed to form a peacekeeping force under the agreement, were invading the Nagorno-Karabakh region. [41] The force was reportedly airlifted to Armenia prior to the signing of the agreement. [42] On November 12, the Russian force consisted mainly of personnel from the 15th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade, which had entered stepanakert and began stationing observation posts throughout the region. [43] The 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh Ceasefire Agreement is a ceasefire agreement that ended the Nagorno-Karabakh war in 2020. It was signed on November 9 by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin and ended all hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh region from 00:00 on November 10, 2020, Moscow time. [1] [2] The President of the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh, Arayik Harutyunyan, also agreed to an end to hostilities. [3] After the meeting, Pashinyan also said the parties were very close to a transport agreement, but gave no details. Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoAan has publicly called for a review of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in the European Union`s (OSCE) Minsk process, which would give Turkey a greater role in the negotiations.

ErdoÄan apparently also expected Turkey to be part of a joint peacekeeping force with Russia. A bilateral agreement between Moscow and Ankara has not been published. So far, Turkey`s engagement seems much more limited. Its main task in the field is to participate in an observation center set up in the city of Aghdam, whose functions have not yet been fully clarified. Putin said a transport deal would be reached „very soon,“ and he stressed Russia`s interest in doing so. „My colleagues have informed me of how the work is going – it`s difficult, but this work is still at an advanced stage,“ he said. But overall, without any effort to challenge their actions or turn disagreements between them into strategic decoupling, Russia and Turkey will continue to use proxy conflicts like this to violently reshape conditions in their favor. After all, both have shown that they are willing to ignore international norms and pursue high-risk policies to reshape the regional and global order. Before the meeting, there was a lot of speculation that the three would sign additional agreements, especially one on the formal demarcation and demarcation of the borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan and another on the opening of new transport routes between the two countries, especially a road through Armenia that connects the Azerbaijani mainland to its enclave of Nakhchivan. In all these quarrels, it remains unclear who exactly should negotiate a final peace agreement. Before the war, this was the task of the OSCE Minsk Group, led by diplomats from Russia, France and the United States.

The Minsk Group was sidelined as a result of the war and is very unpopular with both sides. The Russians have de facto filled this diplomatic vacuum, although neither side is too enthusiastic about it. After signing the agreement, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said: „This is not a victory, but there is no defeat until you consider yourself defeated, we will never consider ourselves defeated and it will be a new beginning of an era of national unity and rebirth.“ [13] After the ceasefire agreement was announced, violent protests erupted in Yerevan. The speaker of the Armenian parliament, Ararat Mirzoyan, was beaten by an angry mob that stormed the parliament after the peace agreement was announced. However, Pashinyan said Mirzoyan`s life is „not threatened“ and that he has undergone surgery. [14] [15] President Putin said the agreement would include an exchange of prisoners of war, with „all economic and transport contacts to be released.“ 5 This publication was supported in part by the Aso Tavitian Initiative, made possible through a generous donation from the eminent philanthropist and trustee emeritus of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Aso. O. Tavitian. This publication was also co-funded by the European Union`s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 769886. This publication reflects the author`s point of view and the European Commission is not responsible for the use made of the information it contains. Both sides reject the application of the eighth point of the agreement, which states: „The parties shall exchange prisoners of war, hostages and other detainees, as well as corpses.“ On December 14, 2020, a prisoner of war exchange took place. As of February 1, 2021, however, the Azerbaijani side still had many prisoners and the Armenian side had some.

UN human rights officials have called for their release and have been alarmed by reports of ill-treatment of detainees. Strategic calculations may not be easy when emotions are still high. Horrific war videos of atrocities against prisoners, including beheadings, arouse revulsion and anger. The prisoners are still being held and the remains of the bodies have not been returned. In much of their rhetoric and actions, the two countries continue to pretend to be at war. Armenians seem traumatized by their sudden reversal of fate, and many voices, especially those opposed to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, insist that the November agreement has no legal status and can be rejected. A minority promises to recover the land lost by force. The Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement of November 9, which ended 44 days of war in Nagorno-Karabakh, appears to be holding. This is largely because the dominant power of that time, Azerbaijan, made significant gains, and because at least some Armenian-majority areas will be protected by the rapid deployment of 2,000 Russian forces to implement the military terms of the agreement. .