Between 19 and 20 September 2023, Azerbaijan launched a large-scale military offensive against the self-declared breakaway state of Artsakh, a move seen as a violation of the ceasefire agreement signed in the aftermath of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020.[9][10] The offensive took place in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is de jure a part of Azerbaijan, and was a de facto independent republic. The stated goal of the offensive was the complete disarmament and unconditional surrender of Artsakh, as well as the withdrawal of all ethnic Armenian soldiers present in the region.[11] The offensive occurred in the midst of an escalating crisis caused by Azerbaijani Armed Forces#Azerbaijan forcesblockading Artsakh, which has resulted in significant scarcities of essential supplies such as food, medicine, and other goods in the affected region.[12]
One day after the offensive started on 20 September, a ceasefire agreement described as a written agreement for the surrender of Artsakh was reached at the mediation of the Russian peacekeeping contingent where it was agreed that the Artsakh Defence Army, the armed forces of Artsakh would be disarmed.[13][14][15][16] Ceasefire violations by Azerbaijan were nonetheless reported by both Artsakhi residents and officials until early October.[17][18] On 28 September, the president of Artsakh, Samvel Shahramanyan signed a decree to dissolve all state institutions by 1 January 2024, bringing the existence of the breakaway state to an end.[19]
The offensive and subsequent surrender resulted in a flight of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, in which nearly the entire population of Nagorno-Karabakh fled the region for neighboring countries, primarily Armenia.[20][21][22] Human rights organizations and experts in genocide prevention issued multiple alerts[d] that the region's Armenian population was at risk or actively being subjected to ethnic cleansing and genocide,[31][32] as well as war crimes and crimes against humanity.[33]Luis Moreno Ocampo, the inaugural prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, has classified the ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians as a second Armenian genocide, and opined that the inaction of the international community encouraged Azerbaijan to act with impunity.[34][35]
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^"Armenia, Azerbaijan: Baku Launches Military Operation In Nagorno-Karabakh". Stratfor. 19 September 2023. Archived from the original on 19 September 2023. Retrieved 22 September 2023. ...the Russian peacekeeping contingent is incapable of preventing Azerbaijan's seizure of the region, despite this being a clear violation of the November 2020 ceasefire brokered by Russia that ended the last war.
^"Joint statement on Azerbaijan's attack on Nagorno-Karabakh". European Parliament. Archived from the original on 22 September 2023. Retrieved 21 September 2023. We condemn in the strongest terms today's pre-planned and unjustified attack of Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh...We recall that the attack takes place in the context of a major humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh, following Azerbaijan's blockade of the Lachin Corridor for the past nine months, in violation of Baku's commitments under the ceasefire statement of 9 November 2020 and of the legally binding orders of the International Court of Justice. Humanitarian access to Nagorno-Karabakh needs to be fully and permanently restored.
^Cite error: The named reference :8 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"Azerbaijan's attack on Nagorno-Karabakh raises the risk of genocide against ethnic Armenians in the region". International Federation for Human Rights. Archived from the original on 23 September 2023. Retrieved 22 September 2023. 'We have to prevent a mass expulsion of ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh,' remarks Oleksandra Matviichuk, FIDH's Vice-President, 'and we fear that the worst is yet to come for civilians who are left at the mercy of the advancing hostile forces unless the international community intervenes.' The international community must intervene to prevent genocide.
^Cite error: The named reference :0222 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"Live updates: Stepanakert under fire as Azerbaijan launches assault on Nagorno-Karabakh". OC Media. 19 September 2023. Archived from the original on 19 September 2023. Retrieved 19 September 2023. Political analyst and peace activist Bahruz Samadov said the goal was the ethnic cleansing of the region's Armenian population. 'The ultimate goal is to de-Armenianize Nagorno-Karabakh. The constant ontological insecurity that Azerbaijan preserves in [Nagorno-Karabakh] is the policy that has a destination — to destroy Nagorno-Karabakh's agency. The same policy of blockage and bombardment already took place in the 1990s.'