Armenian villagers in Nagorno-Karabakh who are leaving the region as part of a ceasefire deal are now seizing artifacts and archaeological objects which are part of the Azerbaijani history, new reports show.
The Kalbajar district residents started a massive migration after it was announced that Azerbaijan would regain control over the region which was controlled by ethnic Armenians for decades.
Some 60,000 Azerbaijanis were made to leave their homes and took refuge in other parts of the country. According to the reports there were no Armenians before the occupation.
After the Azerbaijanis left the Armenian government illegally resettled its own citizens who were accommodated in the houses emptied by the rightful owners.
Fresh clashes erupted on Sept. 27 and the Armenian army continued its attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces, even violating humanitarian cease-fire agreements for 44 days.
Baku managed to liberate several cities and nearly 300 of its settlements and villages from the Armenian occupation during this time.
Before the second Karabakh war, about 20% of Azerbaijan’s territory had been under illegal Armenian occupation for nearly three decades.
On Nov. 10, the two countries signed a Russia-brokered agreement to end the fighting and work toward a comprehensive solution.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev hailed the agreement as a “victory” for his country and a “defeat of Armenia”, saying Baku’s military success enabled it to gain an upper hand to end the three-decade-long occupation of its territory.