Azerbaijan’s president has declared that the country’s sovereignty has been restored over after a 24-hour military offensive. The offensive was in Nagorno-Karabakh against ethnic-Armenian forces and Azerbaijan’s army was praised after Karabakh forces agreed to surrender.
The South Caucasus enclave is recognized internationally as part of Azerbaijan and is home to 120,000 ethnic Armenians. Azerbaijan intends to bring the area under full control. After a nine-month blockade and an “anti-terror” operation on Tuesday, Azerbaijan’s military demanded a surrender from Karabakh’s forces. Armenian officials reported 32 people were killed and 200 were wounded, however, competing reports say 200 people were killed and over 400 wounded. On Wednesday, thousands of protesters took to the streets of the Armenian capital to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan over his handling of the crisis. A ceasefire was agreed to by both sides after being presented by Russian peacekeepers at 13:00 local time on Wednesday.
Read More: Azerbaijan halts Karabakh offensive after ceasefire deal with Armenian separatists
