azerbaijan's army says it has entered
the first of three districts to be
handed back by armenia
as part of a contentious peace accord
the agreement was brokered by russia it
ended weeks of fighting
over the disputed region in and around
nagorno-karabakh
here in red is a region inside
azerbaijan but populated
by ethnic armenians they control the
territory
and the surrounding areas for decades
but in september
azeri forces started an offensive to
reclaim
the disputed territory quickly
overpowering their armenian
counterparts under the peace deal now
the borders of the gonna karabakh have
been redrawn and
armenian troops must leave the regions
they've lost control of
by december 1st russian peacekeepers are
being deployed there
to oversee the withdrawal a little
earlier i spoke to dw
correspondent emily sherwin in yerevan
and asked her about
the consequences for armenia
well when we were in the region of
nagorno-karabakh we saw that
soldiers there were on the move convoys
of soldiers were leaving
the area today's aghdam district is one
of
three regions that is going to be handed
over to
azeri control so far for the last
decades it's been under
armenian control and for people on the
ground
that handover is really emotional they
truly feel that
they are losing a chunk of their
homeland
they feel that they've been betrayed and
people are expressing that anger and
desperation
as they leave the districts that are
being handed over
for example in the kalbachar district
which is uh quite near yerevan
we saw on the road burning houses
people are basically setting their own
fires their own houses a light
as they leave because they say that they
don't want to leave anything behind
for azerbaijan emily you have met some
of the armenians whose lives
have been upended by recent fighting
let's take a look
it's a joyful moment for some reunited
after weeks of fear now that the
fighting in nagorno-karabakh
has ended hundreds of refugees are
returning to their homes in stepanakert
every day russian peacekeepers watch
over the process
but not everyone has a home to come back
to anahit grigorian and her mother arega
are from the nearby city of shushi which
is now under azeri control
just like for many here to them the
recent peace deal
is a betrayal moon is dying
we don't know what we will do and where
we will live
we just came here because we have no
other option we don't have a home
i left everything behind in sushi
a two-bedroom apartment with everything
in it all done up and renovated
i didn't even manage to take any
clothing with me
my neighbors got some of my clothes one
of everything
and this is what i came here in with a
population of just over 50 000 people
stepanakert is the biggest city in
nagorno-karabakh
but authorities here think they could
soon be dealing with up to 25
000 refugees from nearby regions which
are no longer under armenian control
i have prepared several hotels big
hotels so that people can live there for
now
while we start building more houses the
people who have come from the regions
all want to live and step on the curt
and we have to explain to them the
stepping occurred isn't big enough to
provide for everyone
we have to send them to living villages
in other areas
even for those who didn't leave there's
a lot of rebuilding to do
traces of the recent war lurk around
every corner people in stepanakert have
gotten used to living in the middle of a
frozen conflict
but after the most recent fighting even
that normality
seems far away vacha gan mel kumyan is
preparing
for the return of his children and
grandchildren who left during the
fighting
the windows of his building got blown
out in a bomb blast
for now plastic sheets will have to do
instead
the 65 year old says he and his
neighbors lived in the basement
for around three weeks many can still
remember the fierce fighting of the
1990s
before there was machine gun fire back
and forth
this time it was really scary weapons
we have to start over now we don't have
anything
we don't have work either
but we're going to do our best to live
well
even with destruction everywhere most
people say leaving is not an option
even if nagorno-karabakh has just gotten
smaller
it will always be their homeland
well correspondent emily sherman is
still standing by in yerevan
emily russian peacekeepers have now been
deployed
how are they viewed in that region by
the people in that region
well people here in armenia initially
felt almost that russia had betrayed
them during uh
the six-week war after all armenia and
russia are close allies and they also
have a defense treaty
but vladimir putin the russian president
had said that he would only intervene on
armenia's behalf if
armenia proper was under attack
but now that sense of betrayal seems to
have shifted
we saw russian peacekeepers in
stepanakert and also
at dadivanque monastery in
the kalbachar district and people there
seem to be very grateful
for the presence of the peacekeepers
they were thanking them for protecting
the monastery which is now going to be
in azerbaijan's
control as it were in territory which is
under azeri control and they even
were giving chocolates and pies to the
russian soldiers there so it seems that
sense of betrayal
has shifted particularly to the prime
minister here in
armenia yeah the armenian prime minister
has been
under a lot of pressure uh recently
domestically
aren't people just happy that the
shooting has stopped
people are happy that the shooting has
stopped but they feel that the peace
deal that
nicole pacinian the prime minister here
signed was a betrayal
they feel that he as people said to me
sold off their homeland
and there have been protests here in
yerevan almost every day today
there are young protesters around the
city blocking off roads
calling for nicole pashanyan to resign
people have been chanting traitor
so far though pashinyan himself doesn't
seem to be willing to resign
he has promised that 80 percent around
80 percent of his cabinet
uh will go and we've seen that happening
in the past few days
including today when the defense
minister resigned
just a few days ago the foreign minister
resigned as well
but it seems that uh himself is willing
to
and is hoping to weather the storm
despite those ongoing protests
dw is emily sherwin there in yerevan
thank you very much emily