Against the background of the continuation of the process of transferring regions to Azerbaijan, the opposition of Armenia has not yet managed to achieve an announcement of impeachment of the Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. In these conditions, refugees from Karabakh continue to burn their homes, leaving Lachin district, and Russian peacekeepers are helping to improve life in Stepanakert and its environs.
Situation in Nagorno-Karabakh
Both parties to the conflict have finally come to terms with the end of hostilities - provocations and clashes have not occurred for more than two weeks.
Of the military incidents, only the group was blown up, searching for the bodies of the dead. morning 23 November, near the village of Madagiz, a colonel of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces died as a result of a mine detonation Babek Samidli - Deputy Commander 1 housing. Injured, not life threatening, received an officer of the Russian military contingent and four employees of the NKR Emergencies Ministry.
The transfer of control over the territory of the Kalbajar region to Azerbaijan took place on time. 25 November, convoys with military equipment passed from the north through the Mrovdag ridge and began to deploy on the ground. maybe, 701st Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan will be deployed in Kelbajar, which was stationed there before the start of the first Karabakh war.
The next in line for the transfer is Lachin district, which Armenian troops must leave before 1 December. A more complicated situation is developing here due to the functioning of the transport corridor.. During the week, there were conflicting reports about the status of Lachin himself. (Berdzora), which then remained under the control of the NKR, then transferred to Azerbaijan. In these conditions, residents did not rely on the authorities - most of them packed up their belongings and burned down their houses., also, as in Karvachar (Kelbajare).
In Lachin region … houses started to burn …. Lachin district pic.twitter.com/PvLn35Vtq2
- Sergey Samarsky (@Serge_63) November 26, 2020
Wherein, according to the latest data, residents of Lachin itself and the villages of Ahavno and Sous, still allowed to stay, but the administration of settlements will be Azerbaijani.
Border demarcation is a long-term source of tension, which has been decided so far to use the maps of the former USSR. And it will be most acute in places of mineral deposits., or on the routes of strategically important communications. So far, such a point of tension has been the Zodsk gold deposit, 70% areas of which are subject to transfer to Azerbaijan.
of course, the Armenian side did not really want to part with the mines. GeoProMining Company, which develops them, is the 4th in the list of the largest taxpayers to the budget of Armenia and provides up to 3,5 GDP of Armenia. However, a preventive measure in the form of a 1,5 km deep into the territory of the border post area did not help and the territory was occupied by Azerbaijani military personnel. The demarcation process dragged on for more than two days and the only hope of the Armenians is the Russian owners of the company, who can agree with Azerbaijan on joint exploitation of the field. Least, it would help to save the majority of local jobs.
A few facts about the Zod mine (Hundreds)????most of the mine is located in the Kalbajar region of Azerbaijan????operated by Geopromining (Russia)????the company is 4 the largest taxpayer in Armenia pic.twitter.com/8ww1mm3MLy
— Mr.Nariman (@MrNarimanBeck) November 27, 2020
At the same time, refugees continue to arrive in Stepanakert, the city returns to normal. With the active assistance of Russian peacekeepers, electrical power has been practically restored- and city water supply. Many residents confess, that there are more benefits from Russians than from local authorities.
Refugees return to Stepanakert.
The first convoy of the Ministry of Emergency Situations with humanitarian cargo arrived in Stepanakert. The city is now restoring social infrastructure, as well as residents' houses. We were able to return about 2 thousands of refugees. #WatchNews pic.twitter.com/LpBEIlM6Sh- NEWS (@vesti_news) November 21, 2020
Situation in Armenia
In the first days after the end of the conflict, opposition parties were determined to overthrow Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Despite the ban on rallies under martial law, protest actions gathered several thousand people, and opposition leaders visited the detention center every other day.
????????????⚡️Armenia, Yerevan. Rally against Pashinyan continues. More people in the square 5 thousand pic.twitter.com/62nGcXTMG3
— ★????????????????????????????★ (@krotrus) November 21, 2020
However, the lack of consolidation and a single leader, enjoying the unconditional support of the population, led to a decrease in protest activity.
An attempt was made to lift martial law 26 November, when, on the initiative of the Prosperous Armenia and Enlightened Armenia factions, an extraordinary meeting of the country's parliament was held. In turn, the deputies of the ruling bloc "My Step" came out with restrained criticism, noting, that security issues have not yet been resolved. In particular, deputy Aren Mkrtchyan He stated, that there is a need to organize protection 520 km border, change shift and other issues, for which the preservation of martial law is necessary.
"Prosperous Armenia": Martial law currently poses a number of problems for Armenia – https://t.co/sQlkt5pGkb pic.twitter.com/X9xrypisqo
- KarabakhTimes (@KarabakhTimes) November 26, 2020
At the same time, 27 November member of the ARF "Dashnaktsutyun" Artsvik Minasyan reported, that the court granted the opposition's petition to lift the ban on holding rallies under martial law. It means, that new protests will take place in Yerevan next weekend.
Turkey and Russia
At the beginning of the week, the Turkish Defense Minister Xulusi Akar announced the completion of the preparation of units of the ground forces of Turkey to be sent to Azerbaijan in order to carry out tasks to control the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. Turkish military personnel will operate in a joint monitoring center with Russia to control the ceasefire for one year. According to him, dispatch of the Turkish Armed Forces contingent will be carried out in the near future.
Turkey begins transferring soldiers to Karabakh, Defense Minister Akar gave the go-ahead://t.co/yi5C7a2Rec
- Igor (@tZosVyXhlIXJn4t) November 21, 2020
However, there is information, that Turkey plans to create a separate observation center in Karabakh, not associated with the joint Turkish-Russian. Negotiations are underway with the Azerbaijani leadership, but the Russian side is not connected with this.
international conditions
The adoption of 25 November by the French Senate of the resolution on the recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh. In the text of the document, in addition to the paragraph about, that "Paris condemns the military aggression against Artsakh with the support of the Turkish authorities", the call for the immediate withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops from the territories is indicated, employed as a result of hostilities. However, the French Foreign Ministry did not support the Senate. The Secretary of State at the Foreign Ministry was forced to make excuses Jean-Baptiste Lemoine. he stressed, that the recognition of the independence of Karabakh is not in the interests of either Armenia, nor Nagorno-Karabakh itself, nor France, nor the co-chairing countries of the OSCE Minsk Group.
French Senate calls on government to recognize Karabakh
Resolution in Baku, adopted by the French Senate, called a provocation pic.twitter.com/q2tbMmPqeU- Actually (@_Naspravdi_) November 27, 2020
Nevertheless, negative reaction from Azerbaijan was provided. Assistant to the President of the Republic Hikmet Hajiyev He stated, that the resolution is worthless and Baku equates it to an ordinary piece of paper. besides, that the parliament of Azerbaijan generally called for the exclusion of France from the OSCE Minsk Group.
The situation is giving more and more trump cards in the hands of Ankara, who believes, that the success of the negotiation format of Russia, Turkey and Azerbaijan can be extended to all "five countries of the region", one of which means Iran, who is under the second question.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin continues to personally supervise the progress of the peace settlement. In a week, he negotiated three times with Nikol Pashinyan and once with Ilham Aliyev.
Pashinyan said yesterday, that he spoke to Putin twice. Putin told the Security Council participants today, that he spoke not only with the prime minister of Armenia, but also the President of Azerbaijan. But how many times did I say – didn't say.
- Kremlin pool RIA (@Kremlinpool_RIA) November 27, 2020
Against this background, there were reports of a possible visit of the Armenian Prime Minister to Moscow with 30 November 4 December. obviously, there are still many issues to be resolved, as in the case of the Zodsky gold deposit, where only Russian intervention can prevent new battles between the parties.
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Author: South wind
