2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement

Ethnic Armenians returning to Stepanakert after the ceasefire agreement

After signing the agreement, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said, "This is not a victory, but there is not defeat until you consider yourself defeated, we will never consider ourselves defeated and this shall become a new start of an era of our national unity and rebirth."[13] Violent protests erupted in Yerevan following the announcement of the ceasefire agreement. The speaker of the Parliament of Armenia, Ararat Mirzoyan, was beaten by an angry mob who stormed the Parliament after the peace deal was announced. Pashinyan has indicated, however, that Mirzoyan's life is "not under threat" and he had undergone surgery.[14][15]

According to the Armenian opposition politician Eduard Sharmazanov, Azerbaijan intends to file cases in international courts for "damages caused by the occupation" and Pashinyan will cede the region of Zangezur to Azerbaijan in order to not pay the compensations for the damages.[16]

Celebrations in Baku after the agreement

The President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev reacted to the agreement by saying, "This statement constitutes Armenia's capitulation. This statement puts an end to the years-long occupation."[17] Large-scale celebrations erupted throughout Azerbaijan, most notably in its capital city of Baku when news of the agreement was announced.[18]

• The European Union welcomed cessation of hostilities and hoped continued negotiations would lead to a sustainable settlement.[19]
• The Secretary General of the Turkic Council congratulated Azerbaijan for its "historical achievement of liberation of its occupied territories and restoring sovereignty over them".[20]
• A spokesperson for United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said, "The Secretary-General is relieved that the deal has been agreed to on the cessation of hostilities. Our consistent focus has been on the well-being of civilians, on humanitarian access and on protecting lives, and we hope that this will now be achieved consistent with the previous important efforts of the Minsk [Group] Co-Chairs."[21]

• France said the cessation of hostilities was crucial, urged Azerbaijan to abide by the terms of the agreement and affirmed its friendship with Armenia.[22]
• The president of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, congratulated Armenia and Azerbaijan for agreeing to end hostilities, offered condolences to the families of victims of the war and hoped a new era will start in the South Caucasus.[23]
• Iran welcomed the agreement and hoped it will lead to a final settlement which will preserve peace in the region.[24]
• Moldova's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration communicated that the country welcomed the accords with satisfaction and that Moldova supported the search of a lasting peaceful solution in the region based on international norms and principles.[25]
• The Pakistani foreign minister issued a statement saying "We congratulate the government and brotherly people of Azerbaijan on the liberation of their territories."[26]
• Russian President Vladimir Putin said, "We presume that the agreements reached will set up necessary conditions for the lasting and full-format settling of the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis on the basis of justice and to the benefit of Armenian and Azerbaijan peoples."[4]
• Turkish Foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu congratulated Azerbaijan following the signing of the agreement.[27]
• The United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab welcomed the agreement and encouraged both sides to continue to work towards a lasting settlement to the dispute.[28]

Since 13 November,[29] Armenians in Kalbajar, a district that was mostly inhabited by ethnic Azerbaijanis before the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and was settled by Armenian citizens after it,[30][31][32] started to burn their homes and cut trees before leaving for Armenia, to avoid them being reinhabited by the Azerbaijanis.[33][34][35] Some Armenians also took their dead relatives' remains with them,[36] while others were carting off everything they could as trucks nearby loaded up with household possessions and cut down trees.[37] Agence France-Presse reported that in Charektar, at least six houses were set on fire.[38] On 15 November, at Armenia's request, Azerbaijan extended the deadline for Armenians to fully vacate Kalbajar District by 10 days, until 25 November. Azerbaijan's Presidential Office stated that they took the worsening weather and the fact that there only one road to Armenia into consideration when agreeing to extend the deadline.[39] Azerbaijani authorities also denounced civilians and de-mobilized soldiers leaving the area for burning houses and committing what they called "ecological terror".[40][41]

Russian peacekeepers and Azerbaijani military personnel near Dadivank of Kalbajar District.

As early as on 10 November 2020, Russian troops and armour that were to constitute a peacekeeping force under the agreement, were reported to be moving into in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh.[42] The force was reported to have been transported to Armenia by air before the agreement was signed.[43] By 12 November, the Russian force consisted mostly of the personnel of the 15th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade had entered Stepanakert and begun deploying observation posts across the region.[44]

Following the signing of the agreement and the deployment of the Russian peacekeepers, a memorandum on establishing a joint Russian-Turkish monitoring centre in Azerbaijan was signed by Russian and Turkish defence ministers.[45] Russia, however, insisted that Turkey’s involvement would be limited to operating remotely from the monitoring centre on Azerbaijani soil outside of Nagorno-Karabakh, and that Turkish peacekeepers would not go to Nagorno-Karabakh.[45][46]