[ad_1]
Armenian forces are expected to begin withdrawing from the Kalbajar city area near Nagorno-Karabakh on Sunday, part of which would come under the control of Azerbaijan on Sunday under a peace agreement reached after six weeks of fighting. reported AFP. However, Baku gave ten more days for the evacuation of the population.
The inhabitants of the towns of this region chose to set fire to their houses to avoid falling into the hands of the enemy. Baku and Yerevan have challenged control of the mountain enclave for decades.
On Saturday, their owners burned dozens of houses in the village of Sharektar, which has been controlled by Armenian forces since the first war in the early 1990s, in which 30,000 people died.
Before the war-related resettlements of the 1990s, the Kalbajar district was populated almost exclusively by Azerbaijanis. But the Armenian government later funded the resettlement of Armenian families in the area.
AFP reporters in the field have seen in the last two days how many residents load their belongings onto trucks and go to Armenia.
However, Azerbaijan announced later that day that it would give Armenia an additional 10 days to evacuate the Kalbajar region.
For humanitarian reasons, the transfer of power was postponed until November 25. This is the new deadline for the withdrawal of Armenian troops and “illegal Armenian settlers in Karabakh,” Azerbaijani presidential spokesman Hikmet Hadjiev told the media.
Such a request from the Armenian side was handed over to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev by his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Hadjiev said. The message was delivered on the day that Yerevan would hand over the territory under the peace agreement.
The presence of Russian peacekeepers is expected, arriving in Stepanakert, the main administrative center of Nagorno-Karabakh, on Friday.
Although Stepanakert remained under Armenian control, its inhabitants abandoned it due to the fierce fighting. The local authorities have urged them to return home, but almost all the shops in the city remain closed. Yesterday a dozen buses arrived there from Armenia with locals. The internet is down and Azerbaijani operators are already seizing mobile phones.
Did you find this article helpful?
We are happy if you support the electronic edition Mediapool.bg, so that you can continue to rely on an independent, professional and honest information analysis medium.
Support us
Subscribe to the most important news, analysis and commentary on the day’s events. The newsletter is sent to your email address every day at 18:00.
Subscription
[ad_2]
