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Armenia–Azerbaijan conflict

Azerbaijani troops enter Agdam district in accordance with trilateral agreement

The trilateral statement was signed by Azerbaijan’s president, Russia’s president, and Armenia’s prime minister on November 20

© Valery Sharifulin/TASS, archive

BAKU, November 20. /TASS/. Subdivisions of Azerbaijan’s Armed Forces entered the Agdam district on Friday, the press service of the republic’s Defense Ministry reported.

"According to the trilateral statement, signed by Azerbaijan’s President, Russia’s President, and Armenia’s Prime Minister, on November 20, units of the Azerbaijani army entered the Agdam district," the statement said.

Read also

Leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia agree peace in Nagorno-Karabakh

Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The area experienced flare-ups of violence in the summer of 2014, in April 2016 and this past July. Azerbaijan and Armenia have imposed martial law and launched mobilization efforts. Both parties to the conflict have reported casualties, among them civilians.

The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before the Soviet Union break-up, but primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1992-1994, tensions boiled over and exploded into large-scale military action for control over the enclave and seven adjacent territories after Azerbaijan lost control of them.

On November 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh starting from November 10. The Russian leader said the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides would maintain the positions that they had held and Russian peacekeepers would be deployed to the region. Besides, Baku and Yerevan must exchange prisoners and the bodies of those killed.

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