The rare talks between the two sides follow a declaration of ceasefire after Azerbaijan launched an anti-terror operation in the region. In the company of Russian peacekeepers in the region and Azerbaijani police, the Armenian delegation traveled through a road controlled by Azerbaijan and arrived at the town hall of Yevlakh where the meeting would be held.
The sides would discuss integration of Karabakh Armenians to Azerbaijan which retook the region after a war in Armenia earlier.
Amid heightened tensions and attacks on Azerbaijani forces, Baku launched an operation to restore constitutional order on Sept.19. Within 24 hours of the operation, the Karabakh separatists were forced to lay down their arms. Lawmaker Ramin Mammadov, who was earlier appointed to oversee dialogue with Armenians, represents the Azerbaijani side, local media reported.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev declared victory over the mountainous region on Wednesday, saying his “iron fist” had consigned the idea of a separatist Armenian Karabakh to history after a lightening 24-hour military operation.
Under the cease-fire agreement, as outlined by Azerbaijan, separatist Armenian forces must disband and disarm, and the region will be integrated as part of Azerbaijan. “After the surrender of the criminal junta, this source of tension, this den of poison, has already been consigned to history,” Aliyev said in an address to the nation on Wednesday night.
“The Armenian population of Karabakh can finally breathe a sigh of relief. I said this before, and I want to repeat it: the Armenian population of Karabakh are our citizens.” Aliyev said that “war criminals” had tried to poison the brains of 120,000 Karabakh Armenians, who, he said, would now live in paradise and have their religious and cultural rights respected.
