Azerbaijani Army enters Lachin district

Baku, Dec 1 (efe-epa) – The Azerbaijani army entered the Lachin district Monday to take control of the final Nagorno-Karabakh territory Armenia gave up as part of a peace deal to end the conflict, according to the Ministry of Defence.

This last step was taken In accordance with the agreement announced on 10 November, which put an end to the Azerbaijani-Armenian war and weeks of fighting for the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The Lachin district, which sits on the border between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, is the last of the three regions occupied since 1994 from which Armenian forces are to withdraw, according to the agreement reached by the leaders from Armenia and Azerbaijan with the aid of Russian mediation.

Prior to this, the Azerbaijani troops had taken control of the Agdam and Kalbacar districts.

The agreement, which includes the presence of Russian peace troops in Nagorno-Karabakh, was reached after 44 days of fighting during which Azerbaijan captured four of the seven districts it lost in the previous war in the early 1990s.

With the Karabakh pact, Yerevan lost control of the regions surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, and nearly 30% of the territory of this former Azerbaijani autonomous region, together with the city of Shusha.

As part of the peace deal, Russian peacekeepers have secured the Armenian-controlled territory of Karabakh, which is linked to Armenia through the Lachin district corridor.

In return, Yerevan must open a corridor through Armenian territory between Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani autonomous republic of Nakhchivan, which is located between Armenia, Iran and Turkey.

The defeat in the war, which claimed thousands of deaths, has caused a serious political crisis in Armenia, where the opposition has been demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, and half of the executive has already resigned. EFE-EPA

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