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Fire in a cotton factory after fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh (2020): Possible solution to the conflict?

Photo: Aziz Karimov / REUTERS

In the long-standing conflict over the crisis region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a solution is emerging. According to consistent media reports, Armenia has submitted a proposal to Azerbaijan. According to the report, the country is ready to recognize the enclave as part of Azerbaijan, several Russian media quoted Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan as saying on Monday. The condition for this is that Azerbaijan guarantees the security of the Armenian population.

The issue of the rights and security of the Armenian population in Nagorno-Karabakh must be discussed in the format between Baku and the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, Stepanakert, he added.

The enclave in the Caucasus, which is predominantly inhabited by Armenians, belongs to Azerbaijan from the point of view of the United Nations. Nevertheless, it declared its independence from the government in Baku in 1991. Azerbaijan and Armenia have been engaged in a conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh for decades. In the nineties, the region, inhabited mainly by Armenians, was able to break away from Azerbaijan in a bloody civil war.

New unrest in Armenia?

In 2020, Baku regained control of part of the area after new fighting over a ceasefire agreement. A Russian peacekeeping force is to monitor compliance with the agreement. However, the ceasefire in the region is fragile. Until the end, there were repeated skirmishes between the two sides. The fighting also spread to other border areas of Armenia and Azerbaijan.

In this context, Pashinyan also criticized the Russian-dominated military alliance Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). Actually, this alliance was supposed to secure peace in the region. This, according to the accusation of the Armenian head of government, is not the case. For this reason, Armenia has now invited an EU observer mission to the conflict region, Pashinyan said.

The Armenian government is considered to be severely battered by the defeat in the war against its neighbor Azerbaijan. Many Armenians find the terms of the ceasefire, in which Yerevan renounced parts of Nagorno-Karabakh, humiliating. According to observers, a complete abandonment of the region is likely to provoke new unrest in Armenia.

fin/dpa/Reuters