Armenia-Azerbaijan Agree To Armistice

Benrtrok around Nagorho-Karabah (Source: Antara)

JAKARTA - Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed on a ceasefire which began on Saturday, October 10. Two countries have exchanged prisoners and bodies for those who died in the conflict between Azerbaijani troops and ethnic Armenian troops over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The announcement was made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The Armenian and Azerbaijani talks were the first diplomatic contacts since fighting erupted on September 27 and killed hundreds.

The ceasefire began at 12.00 pm local time. Lavrov, the negotiation mediator in Moscow, announced a ceasefire at 03:00 local time after ten hours of negotiations with his Armenian and Azerbaijani partners.

Lavrob said the two enemies had also agreed to start conflict resolution talks. According to Lavrov, the International Committee of the Red Cross will act as intermediary in humanitarian operations.

The senior Russian diplomat gave no further information. But the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) Minks European Group will mediate for Armenia-Azerbaijan.

Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov agreed not to speak out to the media. There are no words that the two of them say.

The mountainous enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan under international law. But the region broke out in war, when the Soviet Union was destroyed and was inhabited and controlled by ethnic Armenians.

The renewed fighting in the decades-old conflict has raised fears of a wider war in Turkey, a close ally of Azerbaijan and Russia, which is bound by a defense pact with Armenia. The fighting has also raised concerns over the safety of a pipeline that carries Azerbaijan's oil and gas to Europe.

The attack was the worst since the 1991-1994 war, which killed around 30,000 people and ended in a frequently violated ceasefire. Azerbaijan, on Friday said 31 of their civilians had been killed and 168 others injured since 27 September. His party did not disclose information on casualties among the military.

Meanwhile, Nagorno-Karabakh said that 376 of their military personnel and 22 civilians had died since the start of the conflict.