Title: Azerbaijan’s Lightning-Fast Operation in Nagorno-Karabakh Leaves Lingering Questions
Date: [current date and time]
Nagorno-Karabakh – In a surprise military offensive, Azerbaijani forces recaptured the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenian control within just 24 hours, marking a drastic turn of events from the bloody conflict that unfolded three decades earlier. The aftermath of the lightning-fast operation revealed abandoned outposts and a city strewn with possessions left behind by fleeing residents.
According to officials, roughly 200 Azerbaijani soldiers lost their lives, while approximately 500 were wounded in the battle. However, the circumstances surrounding their deaths remain shrouded in mystery. Azerbaijani military representatives, on a tightly-controlled media tour of the region, declined to provide further information.
During interviews with the media, an unidentified Azerbaijani soldier described the operation as a combination of precision artillery strikes and infantry engagement against an irregular Armenian force. The Armenians, in possession of an armored vehicle and two tanks, utilized snipers to attack from higher ground.
While teams from the United Nations and the Red Cross have been granted access to the regional capital, Khankendi (Stepanakert to Armenians), international media outlets including the BBC were denied entry due to security concerns, as stated by Azerbaijani officials. The few images that have emerged from the city depict an eerily abandoned place, with possessions left behind by its fleeing residents.
Approximately 120,000 Armenians, virtually the entire population of Nagorno-Karabakh, have left the region over the past two weeks. Abandoned cars and possessions line the Lachin corridor, the only route out of the region to Armenia, due to breakdowns or fuel shortages during the long queuing process to leave.
While Azerbaijani officials claim that civilians left voluntarily, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, along with the European Union and others, have accused Azerbaijan of ethnic cleansing. Prior to the military operation, Azerbaijan had imposed a blockade on Nagorno-Karabakh for ten months, resulting in shortages of food, medicine, and fuel for Armenian residents.
Thomas de Waal, a senior fellow at Carnegie Europe and an expert on the region, emphasized that ethnic cleansing does not always require direct violence, but can be achieved through the mere threat of it. De Waal noted that the local population fled en masse as soon as the Azerbaijani army arrived, citing the historical animosity between the two ethnic groups.
The recent 44-day war in 2020, which claimed the lives of around 7,000 military personnel and 170 civilians, ended with a Russian-brokered peace agreement. While several districts were returned to Azerbaijani control, Armenian authorities still held a key part of the region. The victory in recapturing the entirety of Karabakh was seen as more of a relief than a cause for celebration in Azerbaijan.
Zaur Mammadov, a telecoms engineer who had fled his home in Karabakh as a child in 1993, expressed his relief as he returned to his childhood residence, which had been occupied by Armenian soldiers over the years. Mammadov, like many others, now hopes to purchase a new house in one of the newly established Azerbaijani settlements.
The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh remains volatile, with questions surrounding the fate of Armenian residents and the reintegration process. As the dust settles, the region faces an uncertain future marred by a long history of distrust and conflicts between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
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