Armenians set fire to homes before handing villages over to Azerbaijan

Armenians resort to a scorched earth policy as the clock ticks down to a handover of territory to Azerbaijan under a Russia-brokered peace deal that followed six weeks of fighting between ethnic Armenian forces and Azeri troops over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas.

Villagers in Nagorno-Karabakh set their houses on fire Saturday before fleeing to Armenia ahead of a weekend deadline that will see parts of the territory handed over to Azerbaijan as part of a peace agreement. Residents of the Kalbajar district in Azerbaijan that was controlled by Armenian separatists for decades began a mass exodus this week after it was announced Azerbaijan would regain control on Sunday. Fighting between the separatists backed by Armenian troops and the Azerbaijan army erupted in late September and raged for six weeks, leaving more than 1,400 dead and forcing thousands to flee their homes. In the village of Charektar, on the border with the neighboring district of Martakert which is to remain under Armenian control, at least six houses were on fire Saturday morning with thick plumes of gray smoke rising over the valley, an AFP journalist saw.

“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 in gasoline into a completely empty house. “Everybody is going to burn down their house today… We were given until midnight to leave,” he said. On Friday at least 10 houses were burned in and around Charektar. The ex-Soviet rivals agreed to end hostilities earlier this week after previous efforts by Russia, France and the United States to get a cease-fire fell through. A key part of the peace deal includes Armenia’s return of Kalbajar, as well as the Aghdam district by November 20 and the Lachin district by December 1, which have been held by Armenians since a devastating war in the 1990s. Russian peacekeepers began deploying to Nagorno-Karabakh on Wednesday as part of the terms of the accord and took control of a key transport artery connecting Armenia to the disputed province. Russian military officials said the mission consisting of nearly 2,000 troops would put in place 16 observation posts in mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Lachin corridor.

“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 in gasoline into a completely empty house. “Everybody is going to burn down their house today… We were given until midnight to leave,” he said. On Friday at least 10 houses were burned in and around Charektar. The ex-Soviet rivals agreed to end hostilities earlier this week after previous efforts by Russia, France and the United States to get a cease-fire fell through. A key part of the peace deal includes Armenia’s return of Kalbajar, as well as the Aghdam district by November 20 and the Lachin district by December 1, which have been held by Armenians since a devastating war in the 1990s. Russian peacekeepers began deploying to Nagorno-Karabakh on Wednesday as part of the terms of the accord and took control of a key transport artery connecting Armenia to the disputed province. Russian military officials said the mission consisting of nearly 2,000 troops would put in place 16 observation posts in mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Lachin corridor.

 

Nagorno-Karabakh : Armenian, Azerbaijan engage in fierce clashes

Hundreds of people have been killed in the latest outbreak of war over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountain enclave that belongs to Azerbaijan under international law but is populated and governed by ethnic Armenians. The July 2020 Armenian–Azerbaijani clashes began on 12 July 2020 between the Armenian Armed Forces and Azerbaijani Armed Forces. Initial clashes occurred near Movses in Tavush Province of Armenia, and Ağdam in Tovuz District of Azerbaijan at the Armenian–Azerbaijani state border. The skirmishes continued on 13 July and continued with varying intensity, having resulted in at least 16 military and one civilian casualties. Among Azerbaijani military casualties were one major general, one colonel and two majors. The government of Armenia also reported the deaths of one major, one captain and two sergeants. The skirmishes were conducted mainly through artillery and drones, without infantry.

 

The primary matter of contention between the warring sides is the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that escalated to war between 1988 and 1994, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan. By the end of the war in 1994, the Armenians were in full control of the enclave (with the exception of the Shahumyan Province) in addition to areas of Azerbaijan proper connecting the enclave to Armenia. A Russian-brokered ceasefire, the Bishkek Protocol, was signed in May 1994, but numerous violations of the ceasefire have occurred since then, most notably the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh clashes. Skirmishes have also spilled over to the Armenian–Azerbaijani state border outside Nagorno-Karabakh, with the 2012,  and 2018 border clashes being prominent.

The exact cause of the initial skirmishes has been unclear. At 16:08, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence reported that starting from the afternoon “units of the Armenian Armed Forces, grossly violating the ceasefire on the direction of the Tovuz region of the Azerbaijani–Armenian state border, fired on our positions using artillery mounts”. According to Azerbaijani Meydan TV reporter, Habib Muntazir, artillery fire was also conducted from Goranboy District, but this was not confirmed. Then, at 16:55, Shushan Stepanyan, press secretary of the Armenian Minister of Defence David Tonoyan posted a written statement on her Facebook account. According to Stepanyan, at around 12:30, the servicemen of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces attempted to cross the state border of Armenia in a UAZ vehicle for unknown reasons. After the warning of the Armenian side, the Azerbaijani servicemen left their vehicle and returned to their position. At 13:45, the servicemen of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces repeated the attempt to occupy the border position of the Armenian Armed Forces, now using artillery fire, but were pressured by the Armenian side, being thrown back. According to Stepanyan, the vehicle previously controlled by the Azerbaijani servicemen was destroyed shortly after.