Azerbaijan promised today from the floor of the UN to treat the Armenians who make up the majority of residents in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh as “equal citizens“.

“I want to repeat that Azerbaijan is determined to reintegrate the Armenian residents of the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan as equal citizens”said Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov before the United Nations General Assembly.

“The Constitution, the national legislation of Azerbaijan and the international commitments we have made are a solid foundation for this goal,” he added.

Azerbaijan launched an operation earlier this week in this breakaway region inhabited mostly by Armenians, and won a landslide victory.

Armenian separatists agreed on Friday to surrender their weapons.

This mountainous enclave, which was decided by Soviet power in 1921 to belong to Azerbaijanhas been the site of two wars in the past between the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia: one from 1988 to 1994 (30,000 dead) and the other in the fall of 2020 (6,500 dead).

“We continue to believe there is a historic opportunity for Azerbaijan and Armenia to restore good neighborly relations and coexist peacefully,” said Jeyhun Bairamov.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today in his speech to the UN General Assembly that the conditions are ripe for confidence-building measures between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh and that Moscow’s troops will help in this.

Lavrov accused the West of trying to impose itself as a mediator between the two countries, which he said was unnecessary.

“Yerevan and Baku really settled the situation,” Lavrov said. “It’s time to build mutual trust. There are Russian troops that will definitely help with that.”

Russia has peacekeeping missions in Nagorno-Karabakh, a separatist enclave with a predominantly Armenian population within Azerbaijan. It was in this enclave that Baku launched an attack at the beginning of the week.

Armenian authorities in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh state said today that the terms of their ceasefire with Azerbaijan were being implemented, and that work was progressing to deliver humanitarian aid and evacuate the wounded.