TOKYO, February 16. /TASS/. Japan’s government has decided to provide humanitarian assistance worth $4.8 mln to Armenia and Azerbaijan for reconstruction after the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.
Japan will provide medical equipment, foodstuffs and also financial support for restoring hospitals, schools and residential buildings. The funds will be transferred via a number of international organizations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, 2020 with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which 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, 2020 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. Under the deal, Azerbaijan and Armenia maintained the positions that they had held, some of the districts were handed back to Baku, and the Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the contact line and to the Lachin corridor, which links Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.