Villagers burn homes forward of Azerbaijan takeover | Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia and Azerbaijan were embroiled in a conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, in which a separatist war was waged in the early 1990s.

Nagorno-Karabakh villagers set fire to their homes on Saturday before fleeing to Armenia before a weekend deadline to hand over parts of the territory to Azerbaijan as part of a peace agreement.

Residents of the Kalbajar district in Azerbaijan, which had been controlled by Armenian separatists for decades, began a mass exodus this week after it was announced that Azerbaijan would regain control on Sunday.

Fighting between the Armenian-backed separatists and the Azerbaijani army broke out in late September and raged for six weeks.

Armenia announced on Saturday that 2,317 soldiers were killed in the conflict that forced thousands to flee their homes.

“To date, our forensic service has examined the bodies of 2,317 dead soldiers, including unidentified ones,” Armenian Health Ministry spokeswoman Alina Nikoghosyan wrote on Facebook, recording an increase of nearly 1,000 deaths compared to the last confirmed death toll Armenian fighters.

“Burn Your House Down”

In the village of Charektar – on the border with the neighboring Martakert district, which is to remain under Armenian control – at least six houses burned down on Saturday morning with thick clouds of gray smoke over the valley.

“This is my house, I can’t leave it to the Turks,” as Azerbaijanis are often called by Armenians, said one resident as he threw burning wooden planks and rags soaked with gasoline into a completely empty house.

“Everyone is going to burn down their house today … We had until midnight to go,” he said.

At least 10 houses were burned down in and around Charektar on Friday.

Former Soviet rivals agreed to end hostilities earlier this week after failure of previous attempts by Russia, France and the United States to reach a ceasefire.

An integral part of the peace agreement is the return of Kalbajar by Armenia, as well as the Aghdam District by November 20 and Lachin District by December 1, which have been held by Armenians since a devastating war in the 1990s.

Azerbaijan and Armenia exchanged the bodies of soldiers on Saturday who were killed in the clashes around the city of Susha in the Upper Karabakh region, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense said.

“As part of this humanitarian operation, the bodies of the dead soldiers of the Armenian armed forces were collected and handed over to the Armenian side,” said a statement. “As part of this action, the bodies of six soldiers from the Azerbaijani army were also found. “

Russian peacekeepers

Russian military officials said a mission of nearly 2,000 soldiers would set up 16 observation posts in mountainous Nagorno Karabakh and along the Lachin Corridor.

Russian military helicopters escorted a convoy of peacekeepers from the Erebuni military base in Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh on Saturday.

The peacekeeping forces traveled in a column that included armored personnel carriers and other military vehicles.

Russian peacekeeping forces have set up a total of 10 observation posts in Karabakh and have taken control of the Lachin Corridor, which connects the mountainous region with Armenia.

Under the ceasefire agreement signed by the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia, the peacekeeping forces were tasked with monitoring ceasefire violations, ensuring the safety of transportation and stopping crimes against civilians.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been involved in a conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh for decades, in which a separatist war was waged from the early 1990s to three years after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The region in the Caucasus with an area of ​​about 4,400 square kilometers is located 50 km from the Armenian border.

It has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces and the Armenian military since the end of an all-out separatist war in 1994, which killed around 30,000 people and displaced an estimated one million people.

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