November 10: Surrender and eternal stigma of Armenia's defeat - Analysis

By Trend

Armenia, which suffered big losses during the counter-offensive of the Azerbaijani army, was forced to sign an act of surrender on November 10, 2020 upon the terms set forth by victorious Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani political analyst Elchin Mirzabayli told Trend .

The analyst said that Armenia pledged to withdraw its armed forces from Aghdam, Kalbajar, Lachin districts and other Azerbaijani lands, open the Zangazur corridor and other routes.

Mirzabayli added that before the signing of the act of surrender, Armenia, after the short ceasefire, repeatedly tried to strengthen its positions, to increase international pressure on Azerbaijan to stop the advance of the Azerbaijani army.

“As a result of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s principled and decisive position, protection of Azerbaijan's national interests on the diplomatic level and in the information space, Armenia had no choice but to sign an act of surrender,” the analyst said.

“I would like to stress that Armenia, as the party that lost in the war, assumed many obligations within the relevant terms of the statement of November 10, 2020,” Mirzabayli said.

“Despite the document signed on November 10, 2020 was called a "statement", de facto it is a framework agreement on surrender,” the analyst said. “It does not contain all the points, they have been generalized.”

Mirzabayli said that all other points of the agreement are regulated either by additional documents or on the basis of oral agreements within the activity of the working groups.

The analyst added that the document signed on January 11, 2021 in Moscow proves that this is the first agreement after the act of surrender and that the working groups are taking appropriate steps to implement it.

“On the other hand, regardless of the name of the documents signed between two or more countries, they have considered the documents with the status of international law,” Mirzabayli said. “The responsibilities that may become the subject of consideration by the international courts if they are not fulfilled are assigned on the sides.”

The analyst reminded that there were many documents in international practice signed between the belligerents, some are called the "act of surrender" or "the act of unconditional surrender", others are called "declaration", "pact" and so on.

“One must not forget that all wars and conflicts, as well as historical conditions during the period when they occurred, differ from each other, therefore, the names of documents and their content may differ,” Mirzabayli said. “From this point of view, wars are not similar, the documents signed between the winning and losing sides are also different.”

Mirzabayli said that in paragraph 4 of the document dated November 10, 2020, signed through the mediation of Russia, Armenia undertook to withdraw its armed forces from the Azerbaijani territories, which confirms that this document, in terms of content and from a legal point of view, is an act of surrender.

“The fact that Armenia undertook obligations in a trilateral statement, including the unconditional withdrawal of the armed forces from Aghdam, Kalbajar and Lachin districts, proves that Yerevan admitted defeat and through the participation of an intermediary party, appealed to Azerbaijan to stop the war,” the analyst said.

“If we take into account paragraph 9 of the statement of November 10, 2020, in particular, Armenia's obligations on the Zangazur corridor, as well as the fact that the issue related to the corridor was never discussed during the conflict that lasted between Armenia and Azerbaijan for almost 30 years, then both the meaning and the situation connected with the surrender become absolutely clear,” Mirzabayli said.

“The trilateral statement signed on November 10, 2020 became Armenia's recognition of its defeat,” Azerbaijani MP Elshan Musayev told Trend .

"After failures in the war and Azerbaijan’s absolute victory, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's team had no other choice and Pashinyan was forced to sign an act of surrender,” Musayev added.

The MP said that after the liberation of Shusha city by Azerbaijan, it was clear that the Armenian armed forces were defeated.

“During the 44-day war, the myth of "invincibility" of the Armenian army was destroyed,” Musayev said. “Our ancestral lands were liberated after 30 years.”

The MP stressed that November 10 is a significant date.

"According to the trilateral statement signed on this day, three Azerbaijani districts were liberated without bloodshed and losses,” Musayev said. “On that day Armenia pledged to withdraw its troops from these lands.”

The MP said that there was no other option.

“Armenia understood that the continuation of the war meant big losses, therefore, Pashinyan signed this statement, namely, he was forced to sign it,” Musayev said.

“This was not a statement, but the surrender for Armenia,” the MP said. “Now the main issue is the opening of the Zangazur corridor, on which Armenia has assumed the obligation.”

Musayev said that Armenia is obliged to create the conditions for this and fulfill the obligation.

“Otherwise, Armenia will put itself in a difficult position,” the MP said. “The Zangazur corridor must be opened at all costs.”