Nagorno-Karabakh: Armenia obtains ten days to evacuate neighboring regions

On the outskirts of the village of Berdzor, near the border with Armenia, September 30, 2020. AFP

Text by: RFI Follow

3 min

Armenia was granted ten additional days to evacuate the Kalbajar district, bordering Nagorno-Karabakh, which was to be handed over to Azerbaijan on Sunday (November 15th).

The same goes for the Latchin corridor, or Berdzor in Armenian.

Publicity

Read more

With our special correspondent in Berdzor,

The old border post between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh had not been functioning for several weeks.

Today floats on its roof a single flag, Russian.

There are four Armenian checkpoints up to the very first village after the border, but also, along the corridor, three Russian surveillance posts.

In 

, Latchin in Azeri, apart from two armed Armenian volunteers, Russian forces secure the village.

For the first time, snipers have appeared on the roofs and balconies of homes.

" 

 ," said a white-haired grandfather this morning.

In this intensely bombarded village until the last minute, with three new deaths on the day the war ended, the telephone and Internet came through for the first time since the end of the conflict.

However, no electricity.

The only generator supplies an official building.

As a result, all the stores are closed, apart from a grocer who sells cigarettes, dry cakes and cold coffee.

Men not very talkative with faces marked by fatigue and worry, moved this morning outdoor games.

Obviously, women and children are not coming back.

►

Armenia was granted ten more days to evacuate the Kalbajar district, bordering the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which was to be handed over to Azerbaijan on Sunday (November 15th) after its victory in a deadly conflict.

This first withdrawal of the Armenian forces in favor of the end of hostilities agreement at the beginning of the week sponsored by Russia, was therefore postponed to November 25 after a request from Yerevan, relayed by Vladimir Poutine.

These regions belonged to the protective glacis formed by the Armenian forces at the end of the war of the 1990s around Nagorno-Karabakh, a separatist region of Azerbaijan with a majority Armenian.

The prospect of an Azerbaijani return has caused an exodus of the population from Kalbajar.

Many people have burned down their houses to prevent Azerbaijanis from living in them.

The end of hostilities agreement also provides for the presence of some 2,000 Russian peacekeepers in a lesser Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_FR

• Armenia

• Azerbaijan

• Defense

• Nagorno-Karabakh

On the same subject

Reportage

Nagorno-Karabakh: Berdzor, spared by gunfire but not by war

Interview

Nagorno-Karabakh: "We cannot afford more years of inaction"

Reportage

Nagorno-Karabakh: residents of Stepanakert tell of their flight to Armenia