Lachin in Karabakh zone comes under Azerbaijani control again 28 years later

On December 1, the Lachin region, adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh, came under the control of Azerbaijani troops, with the exception of a five-kilometer-wide corridor that provides communications between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia.

The Azerbaijani army entered this zone in accordance with a trilateral agreement signed on November 10 by the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Russia and the Prime Minister of Armenia.

According to official Baku, the region suffered great damage over the 28 years that it remained under the control of the Armenian side.

Full-scale military actions took place in Nagorno-Karabakh from September 27 to November 10 and ended in a trilateral agreement signed by Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia. According to the agreement, Azerbaijan not only retains control over the territories occupied during the fighting, but also receives several regions controlled at that time by the Karabakh Defense Army.

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According to the terms indicated in the trilateral statement, on November 20, the Azerbaijani military already took control of the Aghdam region and seven villages of the Martakert region of Nagorno-Karabakh, since they belonged to the Aghdam region according to the previous administrative division.

On November 25, Azerbaijan established control over the Kalbajar region (the Armenian name for Kelbajar is Karvachar).

The parties agreed that the Lachin corridor, five kilometers wide, will remain under the control of the Russian peacekeepers and will provide communication between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia.

However, this road should not pass through the city of Shusha, which means that a new section of the road should be built, and only after that the corridor will become functional. This project will take several years.

According to the Azerbaijani side, during the years that the Lachin region was under the control of the authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh, it suffered $7.1 billion in damages.

In particular, according to Baku, 217 cultural institutions, 101 educational institutions, 142 healthcare institutions, 462 trade objects, 30 communication facilities, two motor transport enterprises and other institutions were looted and destroyed.

On the withdrawal of Armenians from the region

Former adviser to the Prime Minister Hakob Chakharyan wrote about this on his Facebook page.

“People were ready to leave their homes and asked for help in transporting their property to a safe place […] We organized 15 trucks. The National Fund, volunteers took part”.

Then an order was issued to stop the removal of people, since “Berdzor and two villages remain under our control.”

However, on November 30, as Chakharyan writes, information was again received that the residents of the region should leave the city of Berdzor and nearby villages.

“Three days ago […] we organized the removal of people and their property. What are we going to do now? What will happen to our compatriots? Why did you trick them into keeping them in the city until now?” Chakharyan asked the Armenian authorities.