Mon 26 October 2020:
A humanitarian cease-fire will take effect Monday morning between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the occupied territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, a joint statement from the U.S. State Department and the two governments said on Sunday.
The cease-fire, which was agreed to in Moscow earlier in October, will take effect on Monday at 8 a.m. (0400 GMT), according to the joint statement by the United States, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun met Saturday with the foreign ministers of the two countries, the department said in a statement on Sunday.
The U.S. facilitated negotiations with the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and the Minsk Group co-chairs to move the two nations closer to a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a tweet.
In a separate statement, the OSCE Minsk Group, formed to mediate the conflict and led by France, Russia and the United States, said its co-chairs and foreign ministers would meet again on Oct. 29 to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.
The cease-fire statement came shortly after Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev announced that the Azerbaijani army liberated the town center of Qubadli from Armenian occupation.
Ilham Aliyev said on Twitter that the Azerbaijani army liberated the city center, as well as some villages in Qubadli, Zengilan and Jabrayil.
“Long live Azerbaijan’s Army! Karabakh is Azerbaijan!” he said, referring to efforts to liberate Nagorno-Karabakh, from nearly 30 years of Armenian occupation.
Azerbaijani authorities said at least 60 civilians have been killed and 270 wounded since Sept. 27, but they haven’t revealed military losses.
The number of houses damaged in Armenian attacks has reached over 1,700, along with 90 residential buildings and 327 civil facilities, according to Azerbaijani officials.
Relations between the two former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, an internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan.
Turkey has supported Baku’s right to self-defense and demanded a withdrawal of the occupying forces.
