CHEREKTAR, Azerbaijan: Azerbaijani soldiers and military trucks rolled into the district of Kalbajar yesterday, reclaiming the second of three regions Armenia is handing back under a deal that ended weeks of fighting. Images released by Azerbaijan's defense ministry showed troops deploying into the district overnight, some scanning for landmines on snow-covered roads.

The district is among those being handed back by Armenia after it agreed to a peace deal ending six weeks of clashes over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Kalbajar, wedged between Karabakh and the territory of Armenia, was initially scheduled for handover on November 15 but Azerbaijan pushed back the deadline for humanitarian reasons.

Armenia agreed to hand back three districts around Karabakh - Aghdam, Kalbajar and Lachin - as part of the deal that stopped an Azerbaijani offensive that had reclaimed swathes of territory lost to Armenian separatists in a 1990s war. Aghdam was ceded on Nov 20 and Lachin is to be handed over by Dec 1.

Kalbajar 'liberated'
Near the village of Cherektar on the edges of Kalbajar, Armenian soldiers were setting up a checkpoint with stacks of tyres blocking the road. Holding a Kalashnikov rifle and with a white cross drawn on the front of his camouflage uniform, 20-year-old soldier Armen Shakhnazaryan said it was a shame for Armenia to lose the district. "We have a lot of churches here," Shakhnazaryan told AFP. "Our ancestors, our elders and our friends are buried here."

In a televised address yesterday, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev congratulated his people, saying Kalbajar had been "liberated". He said historic monuments in the district including churches and mosques were considered "historical treasures" by mainly Muslim Azerbaijan and would be preserved.

Azerbaijanis who fled the region nearly 30 years ago are expected to return as Armenians left en masse. In the days before the handover, Kalbajar residents packed all they could take, determined to leave nothing for their longtime foes. Locals collected electric cables, loaded parts of a hydroelectric power station into a truck and even cut down trees to take with them as they left.

Clashes between the ex-Soviet rivals over Nagorno-Karabakh broke out in late September, reigniting a long-simmering conflict over the mountainous region. The ethnic Armenian enclave broke away from Azerbaijani control in the 1990s war and declared independence, though this was never internationally recognized.

The peace deal was reached after Azerbaijan's military overwhelmed Armenian separatist forces and threatened to advance on Karabakh's main city Stepanakert. Under the agreement, Armenia is losing control of seven districts seized during the post-Soviet war in the 1990s, which killed 30,000 people and displaced many Azerbaijanis that used to live there.

The separatists are retaining control over most of Karabakh's Soviet-era territory and some 2,000 Russian peacekeepers have deployed along frontline areas and to protect the Lachin corridor, which connects Karabakh with Armenia. Other Armenians have meanwhile been returning to Karabakh itself. Russia said on Tuesday it had helped more than 13,000 people to return from Armenia after they had fled the fighting, which left thousands dead including more than 100 civilians.

Russia steals spotlight
Moscow's role in halting the fighting has stolen the spotlight from France and the United States, who together with Russia form the so-called Minsk Group of negotiators that brokered an unstable ceasefire in the 1990s. The three countries attempted three separate ceasefires during the recent fighting, all of which collapsed as Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other of violations.

Since the peace deal was announced, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has faced a backlash at home, with protesters ransacking government buildings and demanding his resignation. Russian President Vladimir Putin held phone calls with Pashinyan and Aliyev ahead of the Kalbajar handover to discuss "further measures to provide humanitarian aid", the Kremlin said on Tuesday.

Also on Tuesday, Putin spoke to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss the work of Russia's peacekeepers in the region. Russia insists that Turkey - a key ally of Azerbaijan - will not take part in the peacekeeping mission, despite Azerbaijani claims to the contrary. - AFP