Armenian separatist forces in Azerbaijan’s breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh surrendered and agreed to a ceasefire on Wednesday, 24 hours after Baku began an offensive to restore full control of its territory.
Under the agreement, confirmed by both sides and effective from 1 pm (0900 GMT) on Wednesday, separatist forces will disband and disarm and talks on the future of the region and the ethnic Armenians who live there will start on Thursday.
Azerbaijan confirmed a ceasefire deal had been reached. The outcome would appear to pave the way for Azerbaijan to integrate around 120,000 ethnic Armenians into its society and to take full control of a mountainous area that has been at the centre of two wars since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union.—Reuters
