Residents on the outskirts of Nagorno-Karabakh set their houses on fire on Saturday before fleeing to Armenia ahead of the weekend deadline that will see the disputed territory handed over to Azerbaijan as part of a peace deal.
Residents of Azerbaijan’s Kalbajar district, which was controlled by Armenian separatists for decades, began a mass exodus this week after it was announced that Azerbaijan would regain control on Sunday.
Clashes between separatists backed by Armenian troops and the Azerbaijani army broke out in the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh region in late September and lasted for six weeks.
Armenia said on Saturday that 2,317 of its fighters were killed in the clashes, an increase of nearly 1,000 deaths compared to the latest confirmed death toll among Armenian fighters.
Azerbaijan has not disclosed its military casualties and the actual death toll after weeks of fighting is expected to be much higher.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said this week that the death toll was higher than 4,000 and that tens of thousands of people had been forced to flee their homes.
In the town of Charektar, on the border with the neighboring Martakert district, which will remain under Armenian control, at least six houses caught fire on Saturday morning with thick plumes of smoke rising over the valley, an AFP journalist saw. .
“This is my house, I can’t leave it to the Turks,” as Armenians often call Azerbaijanis, said one resident as he threw burning wooden boards and gasoline-soaked rags into a completely empty house.
“Everyone is going to burn down their house today … They gave us until midnight to leave,” he said. “We also moved the graves of our parents, Azerbaijanis will take pleasure in desecrating our graves. It is unbearable,” he added.
Russian blue helmets
On Friday, at least 10 houses were burned in and around Charektar. Former Soviet rivals agreed to end hostilities earlier this week after previous efforts by Russia, France and the United States to achieve a ceasefire failed.A key part of the peace deal includes Kalbajar’s return to Armenia. as well as the Aghdam district by November 20 and the Lachin district by December 1, which have been in the hands of Armenians since a devastating war in the 1990s.
The two sides will hold positions in the territories they currently occupy, a significant gain for Azerbaijan after it regained between 15 and 20 percent of the lost territory, including the key city of Shusha.
Russian peacekeepers began deploying to Nagorno-Karabakh on Wednesday as part of the terms of the agreement and took control of a key transportation artery connecting Armenia with the disputed province.
Russian military officials said the mission, consisting of nearly 2,000 soldiers, will set up 16 observation posts in mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Lachin corridor.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Wednesday accused the Armenians of destroying “99 percent of the liberated territory”, including hospitals, houses and monuments, adding that he wanted Armenia to pay compensation.
Meanwhile, in Armenia, anger was mounting over Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s decision to cede swaths of the disputed territory.
Thousands of people converged on the streets of Yerevan in demonstrations this week, as protesters stormed and looted government buildings, demanding Pashinyan’s resignation.
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