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Armenia and Azerbaijan have been embroiled in a conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, where a separatist war was fought in the early 1990s.
The inhabitants of Nagorno-Karabakh set their houses on fire on Saturday before fleeing to Armenia ahead of the weekend deadline that will see parts of the territory hand over to Azerbaijan as part of a peace agreement.
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 late September and lasted for six weeks.
Armenia announced on Saturday that 2,317 military personnel died in the conflict, forcing thousands to flee their homes.
“To date, our forensic service has examined the bodies of 2,317 dead military personnel, including unidentified ones,” Armenian Ministry of Health spokeswoman Alina Nikoghosyan wrote on Facebook, registering an increase of almost 1,000 deaths compared to the last confirmed death toll among Armenian fighters.
‘Burn his house’
In the village of Charektar, on the border with neighboring Martakert district, which will remain under Armenian control, at least six houses caught fire Saturday morning with thick plumes of gray smoke rising over the valley.
“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 planks 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.
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 agreement includes the return of Kalbajar 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 the Armenians since a devastating war in The 1990s.
Azerbaijan and Armenia exchanged the bodies of soldiers who died in clashes in the town of Susha in the Upper Karabakh region on Saturday, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said.
“As part of this humanitarian action, the bodies of the dead soldiers of the Armenian armed forces were collected and handed over to the Armenian side,” said a statement. “In addition, within the framework of this action, the bodies of six soldiers of the Azerbaijani army ”.
Russian blue helmets
Russian military officials said a mission consisting 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 peacekeeping forces from the Erebuni military base in Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh on Saturday.
The blue helmets traveled in a column that included armored personnel carriers and other military vehicles.
Russian peacekeepers have established 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, peacekeepers are tasked with monitoring truce violations, ensuring transport security and stopping any crime against the civilian population. .
Armenia and Azerbaijan have for decades been locked in a conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, where a separatist war was fought in the early 1990s for up to three years after the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
The Caucasus Mountains region of approximately 4,400 square kilometers (1,700 square miles) is 50 km (30 miles) from the border with Armenia.
It has been under the control of the ethnic Armenian forces and the Armenian army since the end of 1994 of a large-scale separatist war that killed some 30,000 people and displaced approximately one million.
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