Azerbaijan will return to the ceasefire regime if Armenia presents a schedule for the withdrawal of its troops from the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated in his address to the people.
"Our condition is that we should be presented with a schedule. The schedule of withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from occupied territories. Then we will restore the ceasefire," Aliyev said in an address that was shown on the AzTV channel. At the same time, he admitted that it would be difficult to do that in a period when there were fierce battles in Karabakh. "But in any case, it will be possible to work on it," the head of state added.
The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh escalated on September 27, with battles on the line of contact. Martial law has been introduced in Azerbaijan and Armenia, and mobilization has been announced. The sides report the killed and wounded, including civilians.
Baku and Yerevan have been contesting Nagorno-Karabakh since February 1988, when the region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijani SSR. During the 1992-1994 armed conflict, Azerbaijan lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts. Since 1992, negotiations on the peaceful settlement of the conflict have been underway within the OSCE Minsk Group led by the three co-chairs - Russia, the United States and France.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS