International mediators tasked with resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh territorial conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia were ineffective because they were more keen on maintaining a facade of neutrality, a senior Azerbaijani official has said. Speaking to the South China Morning Post days before Monday’s peace deal between the two countries, the Azerbaijani official Elchin Amirbayov said he hoped world powers including China would be unwavering in enforcing international law. Under the latest deal, which follows large gains in territory by Azerbaijan after a military offensive, the two sides will retain the territory they currently control and Russian troops will be deployed to the area while a lasting settlement is negotiated. Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said his participation in the accord “was unspeakably painful for me personally and for our people”. “I have taken this decision as a result of an in-depth analysis of the military situation,” he added. Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said Pashinyan had no choice but to agree. “An iron hand forced him to sign this document,” Aliyev said in televised remarks.” This is essentially a capitulation.” In an interview via Zoom, Amirbayov said the conflict had festered for years because of mediators’ procrastination as well as their appeasement and indulgence of Armenia. Armenia signs ‘painful’ deal with Azerbaijan to end war in Nagorno-Karabakh Amirbayov, assistant to the first vice-president, did not point to specific groups but the OSCE “Minsk Group” of mediators led by France , Russia and the United States has recently faced criticism by Aliyev for not rebuking Armenia over its repeated claims of sovereignty over the territory. Nagorno-Karabakh belongs to Azerbaijan by international law, but is populated and governed by ethnic Armenians. Some 30,000 people were killed in a 1991-94 war during which the region broke from Azerbaijan’s control with Armenia’s blessing. On September 27, Azerbaijan launched a major military offensive to retake the region following clashes in July that caused casualties on both sides. In recent weeks the Azerbaijani military overpowered Armenian forces and over the weekend took the strategic town of Shusha – putting it in prime position for an assault on the region’s capital, Stepanakert. Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict doesn’t require China to take sides: Armenian community of Hong Kong Azerbaijan says it had sought peace through ceasefire proposals throughout the offensive, but none lasted due to non-compliance by Armenia. “That’s why our expectation for the People’s Republic of China, and for all other responsible members of the international community, is to tell the aggressor state Armenia that enough is enough, let’s abide by international law,” said Amirbayov. He said he was grateful to China for respecting the “primacy of international law and the norms and principles of international law” but was scathing in his comments on the Nagorno-Karabakh mediators. “If a mediator wants to achieve a result, it should be able to call a spade a spade … if there is an aggression and occupation and breach of international law, you are supposed to tell that to the aggressive side,” he said. “If Azerbaijan is violating some international law norms, you should be able to tell that to Azerbaijan. But to pretend that you are neutral or impartial and do nothing except just to reinforce the ceasefire regime is not the way we understand mediation.” Amirbayov spoke to the Post last week as Azerbaijani forces made major advances in the disputed area following its military offensive. Azerbaijan had vowed to recapture all the occupied territories. The Azerbaijani embassy in Beijing approached the Post last week to put its views on the conflict to the international community, following the failure of the ceasefires. “I would invite you to put yourself in my shoes for one minute,” Amirbayov said. “Imagine you are representing the Azerbaijani state and you proposed thrice to have a truce, you give your agreement and you commit yourself to observe this humanitarian ceasefire,” Amirbayov said. “And each time the other side again starts to shoot. And that’s why you have to reciprocate, and then [the fighting] resumes.” He said: “You have three times in a row, a country [Azerbaijan] that is committing itself to stop fighting. But then in the middle of the night, they are targeting your peaceful sleeping civilian population and killing dozens of people. What kind of incentive is there to keep the truce that you have, in my case?” Nagorno-Karabakh conflict offers insight into the new art of war Amirbayov said Azerbaijan’s end goal was peaceful coexistence with Armenia. He added that Azerbaijan considered Nagorno-Karabakh residents as “citizens of Azerbaijan” and was ready to “provide them with all the rights that all the rest of our citizens are enjoying according to the constitution”. The official also resisted the notion that the warring countries were party to a proxy battle between Russia and Turkey for influence in the South Caucasus. Armenia, majority Christian, has a security pact with Moscow though the agreement does not cover the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Azerbaijan has strong links with Russia too, but is dependent on Turkey for armaments. Turkey’s military exports to Azerbaijan increased sixfold this year. “This conflict started, not yesterday, or today, this conflict has been in place already for almost 30 years,” Amirbayov said. “Instead of looking for some conspiracy theories about, you know, proxy wars or religious aspects, I should tell you that we have to look directly to the core. And the core of the issue is territorial claims of Armenia against Azerbaijan.” The deal signed on Monday marked a clear victory for Azerbaijan following the six-week war, according to Zachary Witlin, a senior analyst with the Eurasia Group political consultancy. “The agreement requires Armenia to make major territorial capitulations and drop from the deal determination of special status, let alone recognition, of Nagorno-Karabakh,” he wrote. In Armenia, the peace pact has prompted demonstrations and calls for Pashinyan to step down. Speaker of Parliament Ararat Mirzoyan is being treated in hospital after he was dragged out of his car and beaten by protesters.