After the signing of a "total ceasefire" putting an end to six weeks of deadly fighting, the Armenian forces were to begin to withdraw on Sunday (November 15th) from the region of Kalbajar, near Nagorno-Karabakh.

Part of the secessionist region returns to Baku control, after negotiations under the aegis of Moscow.

However, Azerbaijan has granted a delay, extending the deadline for the withdrawal of Armenian armed forces to November 25.

Symbol of Armenian resentment at the end of this conflict, inhabitants of local villages preferred to burn their houses rather than see them fall into the hands of their hated neighbor, with whom Yerevan has been fighting for control of this mountainous enclave for decades. .

On Saturday, dozens of houses were set on fire by their owners in the village of Charektar, in the Kalbajar region.

It had been under the control of the Armenian forces since a first war in the early 1990s, which left 30,000 dead.

Until November 25 to evacuate

Armenia was granted ten more days to evacuate the Kalbajar district, bordering the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which was due to be handed over to Azerbaijan on Sunday.

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

"Azerbaijan has agreed to extend the deadline for the withdrawal of Armenian armed forces and illegal Armenian settlers from Kalbajar to November 25," said Azerbaijani presidency representative Hikmet Hajiyev, a "humanitarian" decision.

The schedule for the withdrawal of two other districts - Agdam on November 20 and Latchin on December 1 - remains unchanged, he added.

Overloaded trucks

Kalbajar district is part of the "protective glacis" formed by Armenian forces around Nagorno-Karabakh proper, part of which is also due to return to Azerbaijan under the terms of the peace agreement signed earlier this week.

This region was populated, before the displacement of populations linked to the war of the 1990s, almost exclusively Azerbaijani, the Armenian government then having financed the installation of Armenian families in the area.

On the roads, many residents were moving their belongings in recent days in overloaded trucks leaving for Armenia.

Stepanakert still empty of its inhabitants

The peace agreement provides for the presence in Nagorno-Karabakh of Russian peacekeepers, who arrived on Friday in Stepanakert, the local capital.

They controlled the approaches and the nearby front line.

Partly disfigured by rockets, Stepanakert, which remains under Armenian control, is emptied of its inhabitants.

The local authorities have called on them to return as soon as possible, but almost all the shops are still closed.

A dozen buses arrived from Armenia on Saturday with a few residents on board, while free shuttles were set up from Yerevan.

The Internet still does not work there, and cell phones are now hooking Azerbaijani operators.

Russian troops are present there, especially at a large crossroads southwest of the city, thanks to the peace agreement which provides for the deployment of nearly 2,000 soldiers from Moscow with armored vehicles and helicopters.

While waiting for the full deployment of Russian forces and the reopening of the Lachin corridor, an umbilical cord connecting Armenia to the enclave, the only access route to Nagorno-Karabakh is the road passing through the north of the enclave ... by the Kalbajar district, which is to be handed over to Azerbaijan on Sunday.

Baku promises to "protect" churches

Along the same road, Russian soldiers took up positions on Saturday November at Dadivank monastery, founded in the 12th-12th centuries, which the Armenian authorities have said they fear will be degraded or desecrated by Azerbaijani forces.

On Saturday evening, final celebrations took place there.

All liturgical objects had been removed, as were precious 800-year-old khachkars, typically Armenian carved stone crosses.

"I have no intention of leaving on Sunday," Father Hovhannes told AFP.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev, for his part, told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a telephone conversation that the churches coming back to his country's control will be "protected by the state" and that "Christians will be able to continue to use them, "according to the Kremlin.

In a separate conversation between the Russian president and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the two men stressed "the importance of maintaining stability" around the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Nagorno-Karabakh: Rahman Mustafayez, Ambassador of Azerbaijan in Paris, answers questions from France 24

06:51

Body evacuation

Armenia admitted on Saturday having lost 2,317 soldiers in the conflict, almost double the losses announced so far.

Azerbaijan for its part does not communicate its military losses.

The process of evacuating bodies from around the town of Chouchi (Choucha in Azerbaijani), a neighbor of Stepanakert but under Azerbaijani control, was continuing by the Red Cross, under the protection of Russian soldiers, according to AFP.

Relatives came to collect the remains of the soldiers at the Stepanakert morgue, where they are identified.

Nearly 280 bodies were brought there on Saturday, according to a witness on the spot.

Each covered with the Nagorno-Karabakh flag, four coffins were visible on Sunday morning in the courtyard.

With AFP

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