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Live updates on the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh 

10 November 2020
Russian peacekeepers entering Nagorno-Karabakh through Goris. Image via Russia Today.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev have agreed to a peace deal to end the war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

According to the deal, Armenia will hand control of several territories to Azerbaijan but the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh is undefined. 

Russian peacekeepers have already entered Nagorno Karabakh to oversee the deal.

Read all of our coverage of the war including our Voices for Peace series.

Latest stories: 

 For ease of reading, we choose not to use qualifiers such as ‘de facto’, ‘unrecognised’, or ‘partially recognised’ when discussing institutions or political positions within Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and South Ossetia. This does not imply a position on their status.

10 Nov 2020, 18:57

Bright Armenia head: Martial law must lifted, Pashinyan must resign

Head of Armenian opposition party Bright Armenia, Edmon Marukyan, has called for martial law in Armenia to be lifted, Sputnik reports. 

He also reportedly called for the resignation of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and condemned the violent behaviour of protesters in Yerevan last night. 

10 Nov 2020, 18:16

Armenian opposition parties to hold rally in Yerevan tomorrow

Seventeen Armenian opposition parties have called for a rally tomorrow afternoon at Yerevan’s Freedom square, PanARMENIAN reports. On 9 November, this group of 17 parties had called for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s resignation due to his handling of the war in Nagorno-Karabakh.  

Only one of the 17 parties, Prosperous Armenia, has seats in the Armenian parliament. It is the largest opposition party in the country. The list also includes the Republican Party and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, who Pashinyan ousted from power in the 2018 Velvet Revolution.

10 Nov 2020, 17:47

Macron: A long-term deal should ‘preserve Armenia’s interests’

French President Emmanuel Macron has called for a ‘lasting political solution’ to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, AFP reports. He also called on Turkey to ‘end its provocations’ and stated that any long-term deal should ‘preserve Armenia’s interests’. 

He reportedly stated that efforts should be made to ensure a ‘lasting political solution to the conflict that allows for the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh to remain in good conditions and the return of tens of thousands of people who have fled their homes’.

10 Nov 2020, 16:59

Streets of Baku erupt in celebration 

Since the peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan was announced people have flooded the streets of Baku in celebration. The crowds are shooting fireworks, waving Azerbaijani and Turkish flags, and chanting nationalist slogans. 

Despite a curfew being in effect, the police have not interfered with the crowd.

10 Nov 2020, 15:55

Azerbaijan’s ReAl party opposes peace agreement

Azerbaijan’s opposition Republican Alternative Party (ReAl) has released a statement in which they have stated that while the agreement grants Azerbaijan ‘general advantages’ it does not equate to a ‘complete victory’. 

They criticise the agreement for not clearly stipulating the ‘full restoration of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity, not establishing ‘governance and legal relations in the territories that will remain occupied after 1 December on the basis of Azerbaijani law’, and for not ‘ensuring the rights of all people on all territories of the conflict’. 

They stated that as a result, they will not vote for the peace declaration in Azerbaijan’s parliament.

10 Nov 2020, 14:41

Georgian President praises peace deal 

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has praised the peace deal signed between Armenia and Azerbaijan. 

‘A new era starts in the Caucasus. I congratulate our friends Armenia and Azerbaijan for ending a tragic war and thank all the facilitators. My sympathy to the families of the victims’, she wrote on Twitter. 

‘Peace and stability have no alternative! We launch together a #newchapter of cooperation.’

10 Nov 2020, 14:17

Nagorno-Karabakh Security Council head resigns in protest

Secretary of the Security Council of Nagorno-Karabakh Samvel Babayan has announced this morning on Facebook that he is resigning in protest over the new peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

He also said has rejected the title of Hero of Artsakh which he was previously awarded.

10 Nov 2020, 13:35

Peskov: There will be no Turkish peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh

Dimitry Peskov, the spokesperson of the Russian President, has insisted that there will be no Turkish peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh. 

He said this was not a part of the agreement reached by Putin, Aliyev, and Panshinyan yesterday.

‘I can comment on this as follows: there is not a single word about this in the text of the statement that was published, the three parties did not agree on this, and the presence of Turkish soldiers in Karabakh was not agreed’, Peskov told reporters.

10 Nov 2020, 13:23

Armenia to guarantee safety of transport links between west Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan

The official text of the agreement also differs from the one circulating yesterday in the wording of the guaranteed transport links between west Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan.

The official text states that ‘The Republic of Armenia guarantees the safety of transport links between the western regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic in order to organize the unimpeded movement of citizens, vehicles and goods in both directions.’

Yesterday’s version said that Armenia ‘provides transport links between the western regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Nakhichevan…’

10 Nov 2020, 13:13

Lachin corridor will be controlled by Russian peacekeepers

Another difference between the official text of the agreement and the one circulating last night is the Lachin Corridor.

The official text states that the 5-kilometre wide corridor will be controlled by Russian peacekeepers, while yesterday's version did not specify this. 

The official version says the Lachin Corridor will connect Armenia with Nagorno-Karabakh, while yesterday’s version said it would connect Armenia with Stepanakert.

10 Nov 2020, 13:00

Gazakh not in full text of agreement 

The full text of the peace agreement reached yesterday has been released. The text of the agreement is almost identical to those circulated online and in Russian state media yesterday.

A key difference is a provision yesterday’s version which stated that Armenia was to hand over territory in the Gazakh District of Azerbaijan by November 20, which is missing from the text of the agreement published today.

10 Nov 2020, 12:40

President of Nagorno-Karabakh: ‘we had to make this decision’

The President of Nagorno-Karabakh, Arayik Harutyunyan, has confirmed that he agreed to the deal reached between Pashinyan, Aliyev, and Putin.

‘I don't know what assessment history will make regarding the decision that was made yesterday, but we had to make it,’ he said in a live address on Facebook.

‘First, in terms of the situation on the front. As a result of 43 days of the fighting, we lost the Fizuli district, Jabrayil district, Kubatlu, Zangelan districts, most areas of the Hadrut district, some parts of the Martuni and Askeran districts, and most importantly, Shushi.’

‘The fighting took place at a distance of 2–3 kilometres from Stepanakert. If the fighting continued at that pace, we would lose Artsakh within days.’ 

‘We suffered very heavy human losses yesterday, during the last few hours in the Martuni district, due to the drone attacks of the adversary that we weren’t able to halt. As to why we weren’t able to do so, we will all have to answer for this. Yes, everyone. Since we knew that our defence army needed this, that this problem existed. Everyone who has held positions in recent decades.’

He also said that they had not only been fighting against Azerbaijan, but also against ‘Turkish soldiers, terrorists, mercenaries from different countries’.

‘I bow first to our soldiers, our conscripts were the most heroic people in the world. I bow to the families and relatives of all the victims. We had to save the lives of those same conscripts.’

10 Nov 2020, 12:40

Russian peacekeepers enter Nagorno-Karabakh

Russian peacekeepers have already begun to enter Nagorno-Karabakh via Armenia to oversee the peace deal agreed last night, footage from Russia Today shows.