Azerbaijani forces stationed in Lachin in accordance with peace deal

Azerbaijan’s military units took control of three areas in Karabakh including Lachin district's capital on Friday, while the opening of the new road that was the reason for the handover –the new “Lachin corridor”– has been delayed, Eurasianet reported.

The three territories are situated along the current route of the Lachin corridor, which connects Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh. The ceasefire agreement that ended the 2020 Second Karabakh War stipulated that a new Lachin corridor would be built, and in early August, as Azerbaijan said that the new road was “near completion,” the Karabakh authorities gave residents of the villages along the road an August 25 deadline to leave.

On the day of the deadline, however, both sides reported that the new road had been delayed. Karabakh’s Interior Ministry announced that the current road would function until August 31 and would be protected by the Russian peacekeepers.

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev said in a tweet:

“Azerbaijani forces have been stationed in the city of Lachin (...) “I congratulate the people of Lachin and Azerbaijan on this occasion."

The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs also published a press release congratulating Azerbaijan. It said:

"We hope that this development which is a significant stage in establishing peace and stability in the South Caucasus, will contribute to the relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia as well as to the normalization of the region as a whole.

Karabakh's Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Artsakh Republic, Lernik Hovhannisyan, told Armenpress that in Berdzor, Aghavno and Nerkin Sus, 46 monuments, cross stones and memorial stones dedicated to (Armenian) national heroes and to the Armenian Genocide have been evacuated.