Azerbaijan promises amnesty to Karabakh Armenians who lay down arms

Azerbaijan is considering an amnesty for Karabakh Armenians who lay down their arms, although some Karabakh military units have said they will continue to resist Baku.

This was reported by an adviser to the Azerbaijani president to Reuters, according to Yevropeiska Pravda.

Ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh said on Thursday that they need security guarantees before laying down their arms. This came after Azerbaijan announced that it had regained control of the separatist region after a 24-hour military operation.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Wednesday that his "iron fist" had sent the idea of a separate ethnic Armenian Karabakh to history and that the region would now "live in paradise" as part of Azerbaijan.

Hikmet Hajiyev, a foreign policy adviser to the Azerbaijani president, told Reuters in a television interview that Baku is considering an amnesty for those Karabakh fighters who lay down their arms.

"Even for the former military and combatants, if they can be so classified, even for them we provide an amnesty or hint at an amnesty," Hajiyev said.

He promised that the rights of Karabakh Armenians would be respected as part of their integration into Azerbaijan.

"At the moment we see that there are some individual army groups and officers who have made public statements that they will not accept our conditions and will continue to resist," he said.

"We also see some small groups going into the forest. But we do not believe that this is the biggest problem or a big security challenge. Of course, it will cause some problems and difficulties, but not on such a large scale," Hajiyev added.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that Armenia is ready to accept refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh.

Author - Olena Madiak, 22/09/2023