Azerbaijan regained management of its breakaway area of Nagorno-Karabakh in a lethal two-day navy offensive. On Thursday, it held preliminary talks with representatives of its ethnic Armenian inhabitants to debate reintegration.
Chatting with the United Nations Safety Council, Azeri International Minister Jeyhun Bayramov reaffirmed Azerbaijan’s dedication to ensure Nagorno-Karabakh residents “all rights and freedoms” according to the nation’s structure and worldwide human rights obligations, together with safeguards for ethnic minorities.
He mentioned the talks with Nagorno-Karabakh within the Azerbaijani metropolis of Yevlakh will proceed.
Armenian International Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, who known as for the emergency assembly of the Safety Council together with France, accused Azerbaijan of an “unprovoked and well-planned navy assault,” launched to coincide with this week’s annual assembly of world leaders on the UN Normal Meeting.
Mirzoyan mentioned the offensive focused vital infrastructure corresponding to electrical energy stations, phone cables and web tools, killed greater than 200 folks and wounded 400 others, together with ladies and kids.
He mentioned the “barbarity” of Azerbaijan’s aggression and deliberate concentrating on of the civilian inhabitants “was the ultimate act of this tragedy aimed on the pressured exodus of the folks of Nagorno-Karabakh.”
Bayramov strongly denied the allegations of ethnic cleaning. He mentioned representatives from Nagorno-Karabakh requested throughout Thursday’s talks for humanitarian support, together with meals and gasoline for colleges, hospitals and different amenities that authorities companies will present quickly.
Bayramov mentioned Armenia stored greater than 10,000 “armed formations” and heavy navy tools in Nagorno-Karabakh after the 2020 settlement. In the course of the operation that began Tuesday, greater than 90 of their outposts had been taken, together with substantial navy tools, he mentioned.
He held up photographs of apparatus he claimed was seized.
Mirzoyan urged the Safety Council to demand safety for civilians in Nagorno-Karabakh; to instantly deploy a UN mission to watch the human rights, humanitarian and safety state of affairs; to hunt the return of prisoners of warfare; and to contemplate deploying a UN peacekeeping power to the area.
Azerbaijan’s transfer to reclaim management over Nagorno-Karabakh raised considerations {that a} full-scale warfare within the area may resume. The 2020 warfare killed over 6,700 folks.