Ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh have accused Azerbaijan of violating a ceasefire as peace talks got underway, but Baku denied the allegations as “completely false”.
Gunshots were heard in the separatist stronghold Stepanakert, Armenia’s state news agency Armenpress reported on Thursday, citing the region’s Ministry of Internal Affairs.
A journalist with the AFP news agency confirmed that some blasts were heard in the city, the de facto capital of the troubled region known as Khankendi by Azeris.
Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defense, however, denied the report, saying they were “completely false”.
The claims came after delegations from the warring sides started talks in the Azeri city of Yevlakh.
The rivals reached a ceasefire agreement on Wednesday, that could put an end to decades of aspirations for the enclave’s independence from Baku. The deal came 24 hours after Azerbaijan launched a new offensive in the secessionist region, aimed at restoring full control of the territory. It justified its military action, claiming that six people, including two civilians, had died due to mines placed by Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Nagorno-Karabakh is recognized internationally as part of Azerbaijan, but the 120,000 ethnic Armenians living there dominate the region. Baku and Yerevan have been vying for control over the region for decades and have fought two wars.
Fighting on Tuesday lasted a day, before separatist forces of the self-styled “Republic of Artsakh” accepted a ceasefire whose terms signaled the area would return under Baku’s control.
According to the Nagorno-Karabakh Office for Human Rights, at least 200 ethnic Armenians died, including 10 civilians. Al Jazeera was not able to independently verify the death toll.
“Karabakh is Azerbaijan,” Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev triumphantly said in a televised speech on Wednesday, adding that his “iron fist” had consigned the idea of a separatist Armenian Karabakh to history.
The separatist Armenian forces said they were forced to accept the deal after Azerbaijani forces broke through their lines and seized a number of heights and strategic road junctions.
Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defense said Armenian forces in Karabakh had agreed to “lay down their weapons, abandon combat positions and military posts and completely disarm”, adding that all arms and heavy equipment were being handed over to the Azerbaijani military.
Baku had demanded that the separatist political authorities in Karabakh disband before any talks are held about the future of the region, which Azerbaijan wants to fully integrate.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence said the ceasefire will be implemented in coordination with Russian peacekeepers, while Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan – who is facing calls to resign – said Yerevan was not involved in preparing the text of the truce.
“We hope that military escalation will not continue, because, in the current conditions, it is very important to ensure stability and stop combat actions,” Pashinyan said in a TV address to Armenians.
He also noted that Armenia has not had troops in Karabakh since August 2021.
Thousands of people gathered at Republic Square, in the heart of Yerevan, decrying the government’s perceived failure to support Armenian separatists. Looking ahead, there are fears for the ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Meanwhile, thousands of Armenians also massed at the Stepanakert airport. Others took shelter with Russian peacekeepers in the hope of being flown out.
“The question on everybody’s lips is how Azerbaijan is going to handle the issue of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh,” Yulia Shapovalova, a journalist in Moscow, told Al Jazeera.
Azerbaijain’s claim of victory over the region ushers in yet another twist to the tumultuous history of mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh, which over the centuries has come under the sway of Persians, Turks, Russians, Ottomans and Soviets.
