Two years pass since Armenia's signing of capitulation act

Two years have passed since the signing of the act of surrender by Armenia, which marked the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The act of capitulation was signed by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on November 10, 2020, Caliber.Az recalls.

Armenia and Azerbaijan had long been at odds over the latter’s Karabakh (Garabagh) region. Following the Soviet Union’s dissolution in 1991, Armenia launched full-blown military aggression against Azerbaijan, marking the longest and deadliest war in the South Caucasus region. The bloody war ended with a ceasefire in 1994 and saw Armenia forcibly occupying 20 per cent of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territories. Over 30,000 Azerbaijanis were killed, nearly 4,000 went missing, and one million were expelled in a brutal ethnic cleansing policy conducted by Armenia. Azerbaijan lost control over a significant part of the 1,007-kilometer-long border with Armenia.

On September 27, 2020, the decades-old conflict spiralled after Armenia’s forces illegally deployed in occupied Azerbaijani lands shelled military positions and civilian settlements of Azerbaijan. During counter-attack operations, Azerbaijani forces liberated over 300 settlements, including the cities of Jabrayil, Fuzuli, Zangilan, Gubadli, and Shusha. The war ended in a statement signed on November 10, 2020. Under the statement, Armenia also returned the occupied Aghdam, Kalbajar, and Lachin districts to Azerbaijan. As a result, a significant part of the state border of Azerbaijan with Armenia returned to Azerbaijan’s control.

The heroism and courage shown by the Azerbaijani army on the battlefield During the Second Karabakh War crushed the enemy forces pushing tens of thousands of servicemen in the Armenian army desert from the battlefields. The liberation from the occupation of several settlements on the very first day of the escalation of hostilities caused panic and fear among the enemy personnel.

In 44 days, 5 cities, 4 settlements and 286 villages were liberated - the city of Jabrayil and 90 villages of the region, the city of Fizuli and 53 villages of the region, the city of Zangilan, the settlements of Minjivan, Aghband, Bartaz and 52 villages of the region, the village of Hadrut and 35 villages of the Khojavand region, 3 villages of Terter region, Gubadli city and 41 villages of the region, 9 villages of Khojaly region, Shusha city, several villages of Lachin region, as well as Bartaz, Sygyrt, Shukurataz heights and 5 more unnamed peaks in the direction of Agdere and Murovdag.

The liberation of the city of Shusha by the Azerbaijani army on November 8 was the pinnacle of the "Iron Fist" codenamed counter-attack operation of the Azerbaijani army. The military-political leadership of Armenia was forced to sign a ceasefire document, in fact, an act of surrender. It was a crushing victory for the Azerbaijani army under the leadership of Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev.

On November 10, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a statement to end all hostilities in the conflict zone in a ceasefire. Thus, the longstanding Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was put to an end. According to the statement, Aghdam, Kalbajar and Lachin regions were returned to Azerbaijan in non-military conditions by December 1, 2020.

Initially, it was assumed that the statement would be signed by the heads of the three countries via videoconference. However, subsequently, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan refused to appear before the cameras to sign the tripartite statement. He put his signature under the capitulation of his country secretly far from a public demonstration. Thus, Azerbaijan won a complete victory both militarily and politically.