Armenia and Azerbaijan ready for ceasefire

Moscow - Armenia and Azerbaijan are ready for a ceasefire. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said the two sides are ready for a ceasefire after 10 hours of talks that began in Moscow on Saturday morning.

Talks between Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers in Moscow mediated by Russian Foreign Minister Photo: Reuters

Tensions in the Nargono-Karabakh border region, which have been simmering for two weeks, are expected to end immediately under Russian mediation.

According to the Russian Foreign Minister, the Red Cross will conduct mediation and human rights programs in the conflict zone. The war between the two countries, which began on September 27, has killed nearly 300 people and left thousands homeless, Al Jazeera reported. Despite repeated clashes between the two countries in the border area since 2016, the last time the two countries fired shots and carried out drone strikes was at the level of war.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov did not elaborate on the talks, but said the Minsk group of the European Security Partnership (OSCE) would take the initiative to restore peace between the two countries. The Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan were present in Moscow. But he did not speak to reporters.

What is controversy?

Nagorno-Karabakh is a mountainous region. Although officially part of Azerbaijan, the 1994 warlord has occupied the region with Armenia. Armenia and Azerbaijan, part of the former Soviet Union, also fought over the Nagorno-Karabakh region in the 1980s and early 1990s. More than 30,000 people lost their lives during that period. The stalemate between the two countries has continued even after the 1994 ceasefire.

The Nagorno-Karabakh region has an area of ​​4,400 square kilometers. Although the region is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, most of the population is of Armenian descent  .