But as Azerbaijani forces discovered when the first area was turned over Friday, Nov. 20 much of the recovered land is uninhabitable. During six weeks of renewed fighting this fall that ended Nov. 10, Azerbaijan took back parts of Nagorno-Karabakh itself and sizeable swaths of the outlying areas. But as Azerbaijani forces discovered when the first area, Aghdam, was turned over on Friday, much of the recovered land is uninhabitable. Ulviya Jumayeva, 50, can go back to better, though not ideal circumstances in her native Shusha, a city that Azerbaijani forces took in the key offensive of the six-week war. “According to him, it is clear that Armenians lived there after us, and then they took everything away.

Azerbaijanis celebrate entry of troops in Nagorno-Karabakh's Aghdam region in Baku, Azerbaijan, Friday, Nov. 20, 2020. “Today, with a feeling of endless pride, I am informing my people about the liberation of Aghdam,” Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in an address to the nation. “Aghdam is ours!”Crowds of people carrying national flags gathered in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, to celebrate the handover. Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994. Before they got there, they were confronted by police and ethnic Armenian villagers; two of the protesters were shot to death.