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A Time Of Tension And Transformation As Territorial Handovers Begin In Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict Zone

On November 20, 2020, Azerbaijan took a step back in time. For the first time in over 27 years, it officially returned to Agdam, a hauntingly desolate town of ruins just outside of the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The departure of Armenian troops from the Agdam district is the first of three such withdrawals from Azerbaijani territory adjoining Karabakh that were stipulated by the November 9 peace deal between Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia. Armenian forces will withdraw from the Kalbacar district by November 25 and the Lachin district by December 1.

Current Time English explored some of the contrasts – and historical parallels -- that have marked this month of transformations.

Armenian artillery leaves the town of Agdam, the seat of Azerbaijan's Agdam district, on November 19, 2020. The next day, the Azerbaijani army retook command of Agdam for the first time in more than 27 years.  

GRAB - Azerbaijani Army Rolls Into Agdam, A Day After Armenians Move Out
1 Armenian artillery leaves the town of Agdam, the seat of Azerbaijan's Agdam district, on November 19, 2020. The next day, the Azerbaijani army retook command of Agdam for the first time in more than 27 years.  

An Armenian man points toward a minaret at Agdam's 19th-century Juma mosque on November 19, 2020. The building, also known as the Agdam mosque, survived the 1992-1994 Karabakh war, but was abandoned during ethnic Armenians' occupation of the town. On November 20, 2020, Azerbaijanis attended Friday prayers in the sanctuary. 

NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- Azerbaijanian religion officials and military officer pray in Mosque in Aghdam, after the Azerbaijani forces handed control that had been occupied by Armenian forces for a quarter-century, Aghdam, November 20, 2020
2 An Armenian man points toward a minaret at Agdam's 19th-century Juma mosque on November 19, 2020. The building, also known as the Agdam mosque, survived the 1992-1994 Karabakh war, but was abandoned during ethnic Armenians' occupation of the town. On November 20, 2020, Azerbaijanis attended Friday prayers in the sanctuary. 

Tens of thousands of people once lived in Agdam, a former agricultural and industrial hub, but, after the first Karabakh war, it became better known as a gigantic ghost town. Individuals sometimes could be seen scavenging for materials from Agdam's seemingly endless patchwork of ruined houses and buildings.

NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- A view of a vast expanse of jagged concrete and houses reduced to shells in Agdam, prior to the Azerbaijani forces being handed control in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, November 19, 2020
3 Tens of thousands of people once lived in Agdam, a former agricultural and industrial hub, but, after the first Karabakh war, it became better known as a gigantic ghost town. Individuals sometimes could be seen scavenging for materials from Agdam's seemingly endless patchwork of ruined houses and buildings.

Ethnic Azerbaijani displaced persons from Agdam and the Karabakhi town of Shusha are seen in 1992, as full-fledged fighting over Azerbaijan's breakaway Nagorno Karabakh region began. Nearly 30 years later, some ethnic Armenian civilians, in turn, fled the Agdam district for a school in the Karabakhi-controlled town of Martakert, 27 kilometers to the north of the town of Agdam. 

Armenia/Artsakh -- People evacuated rom Agdam region in Martakert School. 20Nov.,2020
4 Ethnic Azerbaijani displaced persons from Agdam and the Karabakhi town of Shusha are seen in 1992, as full-fledged fighting over Azerbaijan's breakaway Nagorno Karabakh region began. Nearly 30 years later, some ethnic Armenian civilians, in turn, fled the Agdam district for a school in the Karabakhi-controlled town of Martakert, 27 kilometers to the north of the town of Agdam. 

In 2016, a farm worker in a part of the Agdam district still controlled by Azerbaijan harvested onions, a local crop. On November 18, 2020, two days before the handover of the entire district to Azerbaijan, ethnic Armenians in a village near the town of Agdam harvested persimmons as a recollection of the place they are leaving. 

NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- Ethnic Armenians harvest persimmon fruits in a village on the road to Agdam in the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, November 18, 2020
5 In 2016, a farm worker in a part of the Agdam district still controlled by Azerbaijan harvested onions, a local crop. On November 18, 2020, two days before the handover of the entire district to Azerbaijan, ethnic Armenians in a village near the town of Agdam harvested persimmons as a recollection of the place they are leaving. 

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev (left) and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian met in Vienna on March 29, 2019 for negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In July 2020, President Aliyev dismissed these discussions as ineffective. War resumed with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh and adjoining, Armenian-occupied districts roughly two months later. With a truce signed in early November, Azerbaijanis in Baku celebrated the return of the Agdam district to Azerbaijani control on November 20, 2020. 

AZERBAIJAN -- People wave national flags as they celebrate the country's victory over Armenia after a weeks-long war over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region in Baku, November 20, 2020
6 Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev (left) and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian met in Vienna on March 29, 2019 for negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In July 2020, President Aliyev dismissed these discussions as ineffective. War resumed with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh and adjoining, Armenian-occupied districts roughly two months later. With a truce signed in early November, Azerbaijanis in Baku celebrated the return of the Agdam district to Azerbaijani control on November 20, 2020. 

A rocket fragment on a road near the Karabakhi town of Shusha (Shushi in Armenian), just over a week before Azerbaijani forces retook control of the town from ethnic Armenian separatists on November 8, 2020. A subsequent truce between Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia formally turned Shusha over to Azerbaijan and will introduce nearly 2,000 Russian peacekeepers into Nagorno- Karabakh. Three days after the agreement went into effect on November 10, 2020, a Russian peacekeeper and Azerbaijani service member stood together on a road in Shusha's outskirts. 

NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- An Azerbaijani service member and a Russian peacekeeper stand guard at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Shushi (Susa) in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, November 13, 2020
7 A rocket fragment on a road near the Karabakhi town of Shusha (Shushi in Armenian), just over a week before Azerbaijani forces retook control of the town from ethnic Armenian separatists on November 8, 2020. A subsequent truce between Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia formally turned Shusha over to Azerbaijan and will introduce nearly 2,000 Russian peacekeepers into Nagorno- Karabakh. Three days after the agreement went into effect on November 10, 2020, a Russian peacekeeper and Azerbaijani service member stood together on a road in Shusha's outskirts. 

A forest burns in the mountains outside Karabakh's main town of Stepanakert (Khankendi) on October 31, 2020, after what Armenia alleged was an Azerbaijani attack with white phosphorus munitions. Azerbaijan rejected the charge as "false and fake," Turkey's official Anadolu Agency reported. On November 20, 2020, the Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action detonated what it claimed were Armenian white phosphorus munitions in the formerly Armenian-occupied districts of Fuzuli and Jabrayli, outside of Karabakh. 

NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- A photo shows white phosphorus ammunitions of Armenian armed forces, being destroyed as Fuzuli and Jabrayil districts being cleared, November 19, 2020
8 A forest burns in the mountains outside Karabakh's main town of Stepanakert (Khankendi) on October 31, 2020, after what Armenia alleged was an Azerbaijani attack with white phosphorus munitions. Azerbaijan rejected the charge as "false and fake," Turkey's official Anadolu Agency reported. On November 20, 2020, the Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action detonated what it claimed were Armenian white phosphorus munitions in the formerly Armenian-occupied districts of Fuzuli and Jabrayli, outside of Karabakh. 

Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Azerbaijanis and Armenians were displaced as a result of the 1990s conflict over breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh and adjoining districts.  In 2017, Vadidi Huseynov, whose family is from the Karabakhi village of Khojaly, showed his residence in a dilapidated government building in Baku. Karabakh's ethnic Armenian villagers now also are scrambling for lodging, as they flee -- in one case, with a house -- to Armenia ahead of Azerbaijan's return to the region and surrounding territories.  

NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- A family drives a truck loaded with a small house along a highway as they leave their home village in the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, November18, 2020
9 Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Azerbaijanis and Armenians were displaced as a result of the 1990s conflict over breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh and adjoining districts.  In 2017, Vadidi Huseynov, whose family is from the Karabakhi village of Khojaly, showed his residence in a dilapidated government building in Baku. Karabakh's ethnic Armenian villagers now also are scrambling for lodging, as they flee -- in one case, with a house -- to Armenia ahead of Azerbaijan's return to the region and surrounding territories.  

An ethnic Armenian truck driver from nearby Iran requests directions in 2006 from a taxi driver in the Lachin Corridor, a then-Armenian-controlled strip of territory that connects Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. On December 1, 2020, Azerbaijan will regain formal control of the Lachin district, but, under the new Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Russian peace deal,  peacekeeping troops from Russia guard the Lachin Corridor. 

NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- Russian peacekeeper schecking a car at a checkpoint in the Lachin Corridor, November 19, 2020
10 An ethnic Armenian truck driver from nearby Iran requests directions in 2006 from a taxi driver in the Lachin Corridor, a then-Armenian-controlled strip of territory that connects Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. On December 1, 2020, Azerbaijan will regain formal control of the Lachin district, but, under the new Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Russian peace deal,  peacekeeping troops from Russia guard the Lachin Corridor. 
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