According to the agreement signed with Russia and ending the conflict, the Armenian armed forces of Nagorno-Karabakh must hand over the Lachin region to Azerbaijan on December 1. Thus, Azerbaijan will have taken all 7 regions covering Nagorno-Karabakh.
Interview of our special correspondents Ludovic de Foucaud, Catherine Norris Trent and Hussein Assad from Agdam, one of these regions:
The city was so devastated that it is sometimes called the "Hiroshima of the Caucasus." Aghdam, with a population of 40,000 in the late 1980s, is now a "ghost city." Aghdam was the Azerbaijani fortress, located half an hour from Khankendi, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh. Today, this mosque is the only building left in Aghdam. This city was of great strategic importance during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War 30 years ago. It was here that the Azerbaijani army fired on the positions of the Armenian armed forces in the nearby mountains of Nagorno-Karabakh. The loss of the city in 1993 was a turning point in the war. The defeat forced residents to flee. Today, IDPs return and see the destroyed buildings.
Member of the New Azerbaijan Party M. Gasimov outraged: “Is it possible to put to this condition such a city? Is it possible to demolish such houses? If you looked at the past of these houses, you would see that the most modern houses, the best built houses were only in Aghdam. They knew they would not live here. They did not have the confidence to stay here. Because it was not possible to stay. That's why they destroyed everything they could."
Safety must be ensured before recovery. Like other regions taken by Azerbaijan, Agdam is full of mines. Authorities have launched a remote-controlled demining robot.
Idris Ismayilov, head of the operational headquarters of the Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action, said: “About 4,500 anti-personnel mines, about 2,000 anti-tank mines and about 750 different types of bombs have been found and neutralized. The return of people is planned in 3-5 years, but a complete cleanup is planned in 10, 13, 15 years.
Azerbaijan has estimated the damage in the liberated territories at more than $ 100 billion and will appeal to the courts for compensation from Armenia.
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