One week ago, on November 10, a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement was signed by the president of Azerbaijan and the prime minister of Armenia, ending six weeks of warfare over disputed territory in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. It is estimated that thousands of fighters and more than a hundred civilians were killed in the fierce conflict. Nagorno-Karabakh—officially part of Azerbaijan, but controlled by ethnic Armenians—broke away from Azerbaijan in a six-year-long war that ended in 1994, but was never completely resolved. In September of this year, simmering conflicts broke out into war once again, with each side blaming the other for escalations. The new ceasefire agreement cedes control of large areas of disputed territory back to Azerbaijan, and places 2,000 Russian soldiers in the area to act as peacekeepers. As the handover date approached last weekend, some villagers set their own homes on fire before fleeing to Armenia.
Photos: The 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War
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The tail of an unexploded rocket sticks out of the ground near the town of Martuni, after an attack in the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, on October 23, 2020. #
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Ethnic Armenian volunteer recruits gather at a center to receive their uniforms and weapons before being dispatched to the front line near Hadrut, Azerbaijan, on September 29, 2020. #
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Vartanush Avakyan, 92, waits on a bus for a ride to Yerevan after leaving her village of Gandzasar due to fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh, on October 6, 2020, in Goris, Armenia. #
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A man hangs jeans on a washing line, near the tail of an unexploded rocket resting in a nearby balcony, after shelling by Azerbaijan's artillery in Stepanakert on October 10, 2020. #
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A drone photo shows an aerial view of search-and-rescue team members conducting operations among debris of residential buildings after an alleged attack by the Armenian army with long-range missiles, on October 11, 2020, in Ganja, Azerbaijan. #
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A hole is visible, made by a shell that struck the roof of the Holy Savior Cathedral during a military conflict, in Shusha, Azerbaijan, on October 8, 2020. Armenia accused Azerbaijan of firing missiles into the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, while Azerbaijan said several of its towns and its second-largest city were attacked. #
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Arthur Sahakyan, 63, prays inside the damaged Ghazanchetsots Cathedral that was hit during the fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan, in the historic city of Shusha on October 13, 2020. #
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An Armenian woman, wearing a face mask, prays in a church in Yerevan on October 17, 2020, for Armenians killed during the fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway region. #
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An Armenian soldier looks on as he stands at the front line while troops hold positions during the ongoing fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan on October 18, 2020. #
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Volunteers and reservists who wish to join the Karabakh Defence Army to fight against Azerbaijan's forces during the ongoing military conflict take part in a military training course in Yerevan on October 22, 2020. #
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Saire Guliyeva, the aunt of 13-year-old Russian citizen Artur Mayakov, who died in an attack, is seen clearing the remains of her house in Ganja, Azerbaijan on November 2, 2020. In the city, people were collecting their usable belongings and trying to repair their houses following a missile attack, allegedly carried out by the Armenian army on October 17. #
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In Azerbaijan, after a deal was reached to halt fighting over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, people celebrate with a veteran who lost his eyes and a leg in the Terter region in 2002, in Ganja, Azerbaijan on November 10, 2020. In a televised address, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev announced the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with the new ceasefire agreement, which saw significant territory gains for Azerbaijan. #
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In Armenia, angry people storm the parliament after Nikol Pashinyan, the Armenian prime minister, said he had signed an agreement with leaders of Russia and Azerbaijan to end the war, in Yerevan, Armenia, on November 10, 2020. #
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People protest during a rally in Yerevan against the country's agreement to end the fighting with Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, on November 11, 2020. #
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After the ceasefire agreement to hand over territory, Armenians pack their belongings before leaving their homes in the town of Kalbajar, on November 12, 2020. Kalbajar is one of the seven districts that will be transferred to Azerbaijan as part of the deal. #
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Armenians take pictures outside the Dadivank Monastery, built between the 9th and 13th centuries, as fear of Azeri persecution prompts them to abandon the monastery in Nagorno-Karabakh, on November 12, 2020. #
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Smoke and flame rises from a burning house in an area once occupied by Armenian forces but soon to be turned over to Azerbaijan, in Kalbajar, Nagorno-Karabakh, on November 13, 2020. #
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A resident sets fire to his home in the village of Charektar outside the town of Kalbajar on November 14, 2020. Some villagers in Nagorno-Karabakh set their houses on fire before fleeing to Armenia ahead of a weekend deadline that will see parts of the territory handed over to Azerbaijan, as part of the peace agreement. #
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A pile of Armenian Army helmets lies on the ground close to an Armenian Army barracks, where soldiers say there was no indoor storage space left, on November 15, 2020. #
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Mourners gather by the graves of Armenian soldiers killed during the military conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Yerablur Military Memorial Cemetery in Yerevan, on November 14, 2020. #
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Armenians strip out the seating from a theater as they flee the territories in Nagorno-Karabakh that will be handed over to Azerbaijan by midnight on November 14, 2020, in Kalbajar. #
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Ethnic Armenians carry a coffin with the body of their relative Sergei Gabrilyan, removed from a grave, to repatriate his remains to Armenia, on November 16, 2020. Some Armenians who are leaving Nagorno-Karabakh dug up the remains of their ancestors to bring with them, before the territory is handed over to Azerbaijan. #
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Cars and trucks are stuck in a huge traffic jam climbing along the road from Kalbajar to a mountain pass leaving Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia, on November 14, 2020. The territory was set to be turned over to Azerbaijan the following day, as part of territorial concessions in an agreement to end six weeks of intense fighting with the Armenian forces. #
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A house burns in a village outside the town of Kalbajar, on November 14, 2020, as some villagers set their homes on fire before fleeing to Armenia ahead of a weekend deadline that will hand some disputed territory over to Azerbaijan. #
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