Armenia announces peace deal with Azerbaijan

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced a peace deal with Azerbaijan early Tuesday local time after six weeks of military conflict between the two countries.

Reuters reported that Pashinyan said Armenia signed the agreement with Azerbaijan and Russia to end the conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region after Azerbaijan advanced into the territory, a breakaway region controlled by ethnic Armenians. Azerbaijan did not provide an official response to the deal, but a Kremlin spokesperson also confirmed it, according to Russian agencies.

“The decision is made basing on the deep analyses of the combat situation and in discussion with best experts of the field,” Pashinyan said on social media.

“This is not a victory, but there is not defeat until you consider yourself defeated. We will never consider ourselves defeated and this shall become a new start of an era of our national unity and rebirth,” he added. 

Arayik Harutyunyan, who heads the Nagorno-Karabakh region, said he accepted the agreement “to end the war as soon as possible.”

On Monday, Azerbaijan officials said its troops had taken over dozens more settlements in the region after declaring victory in the battle for the second-largest city. Armenia has denied the extent that Azerbaijan has advanced in the territory.

The conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region began on Sept. 27 and sparked concerns about a wider war with Russia defending Armenia and Turkey backing Azerbaijan.

The U.S. helped negotiate a previous cease-fire between the countries last month, but the agreement fell apart within minutes.

Negotiations for control over the territory have been stalled for 30 years under the support of the Minsk Group, co-chaired by the U.S., France and Russia.