The Zheleznovodsk Communiqué, also known as the Zheleznovodsk Declaration or Zheleznovodsk Accords, is the joint peace

communiqué A press release is an official statement delivered to members of the news media for the purpose of providing information, creating an official statement, or making an announcement directed for public release. Press releases are also considere ...

mediated by

Russian President The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federal ...

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...

and

Kazakh President The President of Kazakhstan is the head of state elected by popular vote to serve a five-year-term. The president appoints the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan (head of government) and first deputy prime minister. Leaders of the Kazakh Khanate (Kha ...

Nursultan Nazarbayev Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev ( kk, Нұрсұлтан Әбішұлы Назарбаев, Nūrsūltan Äbişūlı Nazarbaev, ; born 6 July 1940) is a Kazakh politician and military officer who served as the first President of Kazakhstan, in off ...

Zheleznovodsk Zheleznovodsk (russian: Железново́дск) is a town in Stavropol Krai, Russia. Population: Etymology The name of the town literally means ''iron-water-place'', as the mineral waters springing from the earth in Zheleznovodsk were belie ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

on September 23, 1991 with an intention to end the three-year-long hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the

Nagorno-Karabakh Nagorno-Karabakh ( ) is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, within the mountainous range of Karabakh, lying between Lower Karabakh and Syunik, and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains. The region is m ...

region, still an autonomous oblast of the

Azerbaijan SSR Azerbaijan ( az, Азәрбајҹан, Azərbaycan, italics=no), officially the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (Azerbaijan SSR; az, Азәрбајҹан Совет Сосиалист Республикасы, Azərbaycan Sovet Sosialist R ...

. Although consensus was reached, the treaty was never ratified.

Background

The conflict over

Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO), DQMV, hy, Լեռնային Ղարաբաղի Ինքնավար Մարզ, ԼՂԻՄ was an autonomous oblast within the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic that was created on July 7, 1923. Its cap ...

of Azerbaijan SSR which started in early 1988 had developed unmitigated and claimed lives of many civilians, interior troops and army.

Mediating mission

With consent from the authorities in Azerbaijan and Armenia, Boris Yeltsin and Nursultan Nazarbayev led a mediating mission on September 20–23 visiting

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world an ...

Ganja Ganja (, ; ) is one of the oldest and most commonly used synonyms for marijuana. Its usage in English dates to before 1689. Etymology ''Ganja'' is borrowed from Hindi/Urdu ( hi, गांजा, links=no, ur, , links=no, IPA: �aːɲd͡ ...

, Stepanakert (also known as Վարարակն (Vararakn) by Armenians, and called Xankəndi (Khankendi) by Azerbaijanis) and

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and i ...

. Taking the principles of

territorial integrity Territorial integrity is the principle under international law that gives the right to sovereign states to defend their borders and all territory in them of another state. It is enshrined in Article 2(4) of the UN Charter and has been recognized ...

, non-interference in internal affairs of sovereign states, observance of civil rights as the starting point, breakthrough was achieved on September 22 when Armenia renounced all its claims to Azerbaijani territory. This allowed the parties to agree to a joint communique the next day, committing both sides to disarm and withdraw militias, allow return of

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

s and

IDPs An internally displaced person (IDP) is someone who is forced to leave their home but who remains within their country's borders. They are often referred to as refugees, although they do not fall within the legal definitions of a refugee. A ...

, re-establish Soviet-era administrative order of the Nagorno-Karabakh

oblast An oblast (; ; Cyrillic (in most languages, including Russian and Ukrainian): , Bulgarian: ) is a type of administrative division of Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Ukraine, as well as the Soviet Union and the Kingdo ...

and set up delegations to find a peaceful solution to the conflict.

Soviet army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

and internal troops would still remain in the conflict zone and the process would be supervised by Russian and Kazakh officials. The peace communiqué was discussed with participation of Y. Shaposhnikov, V.Barannikov, S. Voskanyan, M. Gezalov, V. Dzhafarov, R. Kocharian, L. Petrosian, M. Radayev and was signed by

(Russian Federation),

Ayaz Mutalibov Ayaz Niyazi oghlu Mutallibov, russian: Аяз Ниязович Муталибов, Ayaz Niyazovich Mutalibov (12 May 1938 – 27 March 2022) was an Azerbaijani politician who served as the first president of Azerbaijan. He was the last leader ...

(Azerbaijan),

(Kazakhstan) and Levon Ter-Petrosian (Armenia).

References

External links

Full text of the Zheleznovodsk CommuniquéText of all peace accords between Armenia and Azerbaijan
Peace treaties First Nagorno-Karabakh War Treaties of Armenia Treaties of Azerbaijan Treaties concluded in 1991 1991 in the Soviet Union Treaties of the Republic of Artsakh 1991 in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic September 1991 events in Europe {{International-law-stub

Background

Mediating mission

See also

References

External links