BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 21. Complete cleansing of Azerbaijan's Karabakh region from Armenian separatist elements will ensure the security of the civilian population, Yuriy Osadchenko, a veteran of the first Karabakh war and chairman of the board of the Ukrainian Congress of Azerbaijan, told Trend.
"We fully and completely support the measures taken by the Azerbaijani armed forces to disarm and ensure the withdrawal of Armenian armed formations from the territory of Karabakh and the neutralization of military infrastructure," he said.
As Osadchenko noted, absolutely all citizens of Azerbaijan, regardless of nationality, were waiting with great hope for the complete withdrawal of Armenian armed formations from Azerbaijani territories and the restoration of constitutional order as soon as possible.
"The complete cleansing of the Karabakh region from separatist elements and bandit formations will ensure the security of the civilian population regardless of their ethnic and confessional affiliation and lay the foundation for the economic prosperity of the entire South Caucasus, including the Armenian population, as President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has said many times. Armenians will live side by side with us, enjoying all the rights and duties granted to all peoples of Azerbaijan," he added.
In order to ensure the provisions of the Trilateral Statement, suppress large-scale provocations in the Karabakh economic region, disarm and withdraw Armenian armed forces formations from the territories of Azerbaijan, neutralize their military infrastructure, ensure the safety of civilians returning to the territories liberated from occupation, civil servants involved in construction-restoration works, and Azerbaijani military personnel, as well as restore the constitutional order of Azerbaijan, anti-terrorist activities of a local nature were carried out in the region on September 19–20.
Within the framework of the activities, positions of Armenian armed forces formations, their long-term firing points, as well as military means and military facilities, were disrupted using high-precision weapons in the front line and in depth. Civilians and civilian infrastructure were not targets; only legitimate military targets were put out of action.
Taking into account the appeal of the representatives of the Armenian population of Karabakh through the Russian peacekeeping contingent, an agreement was reached on September 20, 2023, at 13:00 (GMT+4) to cease anti-terrorist activities of a local nature under the following conditions: the formations of the armed forces of Armenia, Armenian illegal armed formations located in Azerbaijan's Karabakh region, lay down their weapons, leave their combat positions and military posts, and completely disarm; the formations of the armed forces of Armenia leave the territory of Azerbaijan; Armenian illegal armed groups are dissolved.