Ethnic Armenians flee as area turned to Azerbaijan

(18 Nov 2020) Scores of ethnic Armenians packed up their belongings and left their homes in the Agdam district of Nagorno-Karabakh on Wednesday, two days before the area is turned over to Azerbaijan.
Residents of the small village of Nor Maraga loaded precious heirlooms and essentials into vans and buses, after local authorities informed  them that their village was due to be handed over to Azerbaijan.
According to a Russia-brokered ceasefire agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, several districts in Nagorno-Karabakh inhabited by ethnic Armenians are to be turned over to Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan considers Nor Maraga and several other villages part of the Agdam region, even though ethnic Armenians claim it is part of Martakert district, which stays under their control.
Many villagers had hoped that their homes would not be touched by the ceasefire agreement.
Garik Sarkisyan has lived for more than 30 years with his uncle, Nikolay Karapityan, in a home they built from scratch.
Karapityan cries as he squeezed himself into an overpacked car, taking a final look at everything he holds dear before setting off for Stepanakert.
Uncertain of what his future might hold, another villager decided to slaughter his precious livestock, rather than leaving the animal behind.
"If Karabakh doesn't exist anymore, we don't have either house or motherland. We're refugees now," Ovik Vanyan said.
Before boarding buses provided by local authorities, Vanyan and some of his friends and neighbours had one last dinner, reminiscing about their time in Nor Maraga and worrying about their future.
Agdam district will be the first territory turned over to Azerbaijan on 20 November.
Ethnic Armenian forces had controlled Nagorno-Karabakh and sizeable adjacent territories since the 1994 end of a separatist war.
Fighting resumed in late September and ended with an agreement that calls for Azerbaijan to regain control of the outlying territories as well as allowing it to hold on to parts of Nagorno-Karabakh that it seized during the fighting.

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