By Shawn Gupta
After one and a half months, on November 10th, the full-scale war between Armenia and Azerbaijan has finally come to an end. The two countries were fighting over who would control the Nagorno-Karabakh region; this region is internationally recognized as territory of Azerbaijan, but is ethnically Armenian and occupied by Armenia.Â
Even though both sides faced military and civilian casualties, Azerbaijan won the war. In the peace treaty brokered by Russia, Armenia will hand over the Kalbajar district on November 25th and the Lachin district by December 1st to Azerbaijan.
These districts ceded to Azerbaijan are demographically Armenian. This created only a short window of time for large numbers of these now displaced Armenians to leave. Worrying about being governed by Azerbaijan, and holding a deep resentment against Azerbaijan, these residents fled back into Armenia. Often they would burn and destroy their homes, making sure that they would leave nothing behind for the incoming Azerbaijanian military to use.
A deep contrast could be seen in how some civilians, from both countries, reacted to the outcome of the conflict. The peace treaty triggered protests in Armenia’s capital, Yerevan. Some of the protests turned into riots when some of the protesters broke into and vandalized government buildings. People in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, took to the streets to celebrate the new land gained by Azerbaijan.
To make sure the handover of land goes smoothly, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced that they would send in 2000 troops to act as peacekeepers.
