Azerbaijani forces announced their entry on Tuesday December 1 into Lachin district, the third and last of the three districts surrendered by Armenia, near Nagorno-Karabakh, in accordance with the end of hostilities agreement signed on November 9 under Russian patronage .

"Azerbaijani army units entered Lachin district on December 1," Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The district of Lachin, like that of Aghdam surrendered on November 20 and that of Kalbajar surrendered on November 25, constituted a buffer zone which surrounded the self-proclaimed republic, mainly populated by Armenians, of Nagorno-Karabakh since the end of a first war in 1994.

Four other districts with the same role were taken over by Baku during the six weeks of intense fighting between the two camps since the end of September, which left several thousand dead.

Corridor

Mountainous and currently snow-capped, the Lachin district, which runs north-south to Iran along the eastern border of Armenia, is best known for the corridor of the same name.

Controlled by the Russian peacekeeping forces, this corridor is now the only road linking Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.

Shortly after Baku's announcement, a column of Azerbaijani military trucks, flanked by Russian forces vehicles, passed through the town of Lachin (Berdzor in Armenian), according to an AFP journalist.

Residents did not wait to leave the area, destroying and deboning homes and infrastructure on the land they are leaving.

This weekend, men were chopping firs with chainsaws, carrying the wood for warmth.

"We have notified all residents of the district that they have to leave before 6 p.m. on Monday. This also applies to the villages of Sus and Aghavno," Davit Davtian, a staff member in the district, told AFP on Monday. district administration.

However, on Sunday, the head of the district administration told AFP that these two villages were not affected by the handover.

"I do not know where to go"

"For the town of Berdzor (Latchin), 200 people useful to the administration (gas, electricity, roads ...) can stay. We will give their names to the Russian soldiers (of peace) and these people will have a permit. pass, ”Davit Davtian adds.

But there are also locals who stay because they have nowhere else to go.

These "told us that they were staying and that they would see what happens on Tuesday," Davit Davtian said.

In the village of Aghavno, located by the corridor road, residents were leaving their homes on Monday, loading their furniture and wood into trucks and cars.

Araksia Gyokchakian, 60, is among those who will stay: "I don't know where to go. I stayed here during the war. It is my home," she told AFP.

At the end of the first war in 1994, the reverse exodus had taken place, the Azerbaijani population fleeing these regions then repopulated by Armenians.

The ceasefire of November 9, signed when the military situation was catastrophic for Armenia, enshrines the victory of Azerbaijan and grants it important territorial gains.

It nevertheless allows the survival of Nagorno-Karabakh, diminished, and sees the deployment of 2,000 Russian peacekeepers.

With AFP

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