Armenia and Azerbaijan agree to "humanitarian ceasefire" in Nagorno-Karabakh
17 October 2020
Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a new "humanitarian ceasefire" in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh on Saturday, the two countries announced in identical statements.
Details: The truce began at midnight local time (4 p.m. ET), hours after the two countries accused each other of violating a week-old, Russian-brokered humanitarian truce, which was intended to allow the two sides to exchange prisoners and recover bodies.
- Nagorno-Karabakh's foreign ministry said in a statement following Saturday's announcement that it welcomed "the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs as well as Armenia to achieve a ceasefire in the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict zone as well as to reduce tensions."
- "Nagorno-Karabakh reaffirms its readiness to maintain the terms of the humanitarian ceasefire on a reciprocal basis in line with the Moscow Statement of October 10, 2020, and agreement reached on October 17, 2020," Nagorno-Karabakh's foreign ministry added.
The big picture: Hundreds of soldiers and dozens of civilians have been killed since the recent fighting began in late September.
- The recent violence is the worst the region has seen in years, and began with coordinated air and missile attacks late last month from Azerbaijan, which claimed Armenian forces had been preparing an attack (Armenia denies that).
The backstory: Nagorno-Karabakh is a mountainous region of around 150,000 people that is populated mainly by ethnic Armenians but lies within the borders of Azerbaijan.
- The countries have both claimed the territory since the collapse of the Soviet Union, fought a war over it from 1992-1994, and stood on the precipice of further conflict since.
- Previous skirmishes, though numerous, have left the stalemate largely unaltered. So has a peace process overseen by the U.S., France and Russia.
Go deeper: Armenian Americans rally in U.S. as Nagorno-Karabakh truce frays
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.