ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Skip to main content

Thousands of Armenians in Karabakh mass at airport after ceasefire deal

Share
YEREVAN -

Thousands of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh on Wednesday massed at the airport where some Russian peacekeepers are based after separatist forces agreed to a ceasefire which would see them surrender to Azerbaijan.

Separatists running the self-styled "Republic of Artsakh" urged the population of 120,000 not to rush to the airport in the capital which they call Stepanakert.

"We once again urge the population of Stepanakert not to succumb to panic and not to go to the airport on their own initiative in order to evacuate," the separatists said.

Pictures from Karabakh showed thousands of people at the airport, some with young children.

Separatist leaders have repeatedly accused Azerbaijan of wanting to ethnically cleanse Karabakh. Baku rejects such accusations and says it will protect the rights of the area's ethnic Armenian civilians under its own constitution.

Armenians, who are Christians, claim a long historical dominance in the area, dating back to several centuries before Christ.

Azerbaijan, whose inhabitants are mostly Muslim, links its historical identity to the territory too. It accuses the Armenians of driving out Azerbaijanis who lived nearby in the 1990s. It wants to gain full control over the region, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.

Under the ceasefire agreement, representatives of the Armenians in Karabakh are due to hold a meeting on Thursday with Azerbaijani authorities.

Russia said its peacekeepers were performing their role.

Moscow said there were 2,261 people, including 1,049 children, sheltering at the peacekeepers' base camp.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Andrew Osborn)

CTVNews.ca ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

The province's public security minister said he was "shocked" Thursday amid reports that a body believed to be that of a 14-year-old boy was found this week near a Hells Angels hideout near Quebec City.

Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.

An Ontario man says it is 'unfair' to pay a $1,500 insurance surcharge because his four-year-old SUV is at a higher risk of being stolen.

The Montreal couple from Mexico and their three children facing deportation have received a temporary residence permit.

Local Spotlight

They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.

David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.

Edmontonians can count themselves lucky to ever see one tiger salamander, let alone the thousands one local woman says recently descended on her childhood home.