Armenia, Azerbaijan agree to 'humanitarian ceasefire' under Russia brokered deal

In a significant development, Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed to a ceasefire starting on October 10 midnight and “substantive” talks over the contested region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Russin foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.

The breakthrough came after Russia brokered 10-hour long peace talks between the two erstwhile Soviet states. A  violent conflict between the two nations started on September 27 and has since then resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people.

According to Al Jazeera, both the parties agreed to a “humanitarian ceasefire”. The top diplomats from both countries said in a statement that the truce is intended to exchange prisoners and recover the dead, adding that specific details will be agreed on later, The Associated Press reported.

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Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict 

The new fight, which erupted on September 27, is considered to be the heaviest in decades. Hundreds of people have been killed in the past week, including over 40 civilians. The Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict has raised international concern about stability in the South Caucasus, a region zig-zagged with pipelines that Azeri oil and gas to world markets. 

With fears of the clashes expanding into an all-out multi-front war, global leaders were daunted at the possibility of fighting spilling over to other regional powers — Turkey and Russia. While Ankara is Azerbaijan’s strongest supporter, Moscow, on the other hand, has a military base in Armenia. Earlier, Armenia even accused Turkey of supplying fighters to the conflict out of northern-Syria. 

Meanwhile, thousands of people are fleeing to southern Armenia to escape the conflict in the region. Footage from British broadcaster Sky News showed ethnic Armenians arriving in the Goris on October 4 carrying all their possessions as men left for the front lines.

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Image credits: AP