Azerbaijan troops continue to pour into Kalbajar

(3 Dec 2020) Azerbaijan's military continued to flow into Kalbajar on Wednesday after the nation reclaimed the contested region from Armenian forces following a peace deal that ended six weeks of fierce fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh. Army vehicles and personnel have moved into the region since it was handed over from Armenia in November. In recent days, Azerbaijan's military has been conducting an operation to clear Kalbajar of mines, according to Defence Military spokesperson Anar Eyvazov. Eyvazov added that personnel from Turkey, a close ally of Azerbaijan's, have been supporting that work. They have also been assessing damage to buildings in Kalbajar, which Azerbaijani officials have claimed were torched by ethnic Armenian residents before they left the region in the lead up to the territorial handover. Many burned and collapsed buildings were seen dotting the area's landscape. While most ethnic Armenians left their houses, the clergy of the Dadivank monastery, which is comprised of several Armenian monks, were a notable exception. The Armenian Apostolic Church monastery dates to the 9th century. The monks that remained behind after the transfer, are now protected by Russian peacekeepers, standing guard outside the monastery. Those peacekeepers are among 2,000 that Russia deployed for at least five years to monitor the Nagorno-Karabakh peace deal and help the return of refugees. Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994. That conflict left not only Nagorno-Karabakh itself but large chunks of surrounding lands in Armenian hands. In 44 days of heavy fighting that began on September 27, the Azerbaijani military routed Armenian forces and moved deep into Nagorno-Karabakh, forcing Armenia to accept a Russia-brokered peace deal that took effect on November 10. The agreement saw the return to Azerbaijan of a significant part of Nagorno-Karabakh and also required Armenia to hand over all of the regions it held outside the separatist region, including Kalbajar. The peace agreement was celebrated as a victory in Azerbaijan, but sparked mass protests in Armenia, with thousands taking to the streets of the capital of Yerevan to demand the ouster of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...