On October 2, one of the last buses carrying Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh left the province, capping the arduous weeklong departure of over 100,000 people following Azerbaijan's lightning takeover of the region. Its streets are now devoid of life, strewn with the debris of its former residents.
After The Exodus: Azerbaijan Seizes A Lifeless Nagorno-Karabakh
Abandoned vehicles line the roads on October 2 in Stepanakert, known as Xankendi by Azerbaijan, following the mass exodus of ethnic Armenians from the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
As Azerbaijan moves in to reaffirm control of Nagorno-Karabakh, it's gaining a region devoid of life, where communities now resemble ghost towns.
A doll and children's personal belongings lie on the ground in the regional capital, Xankendi/Stepanakert.
On October 2, one of the last buses carrying ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh left the province, capping an arduous week where 100,000 people fled following Azerbaijan's takeover of the region.
A satellite image shows the empty streets of Xankendi on September 29.
The Armenian government said on October 2 that 100,514 of the region's estimated 120,000 residents had crossed into Armenia.
An abandoned vehicle is parked in front of a closed shop in Xankendi on October 2.
The exodus of the region's people followed a 24-hour campaign that began on September 19, when Azerbaijani forces routed the region's undermanned and outgunned Armenian forces, forcing them to capitulate.
Abandoned cars line a deserted street in Xankendi.
After six years of separatist fighting ended in 1994 following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Nagorno-Karabakh came under the control of ethnic Armenian forces, backed by Armenia, turning about 1 million of its Azerbaijani residents into refugees.
Azerbaijan reclaimed portions of the breakaway region after a six-week conflict in 2020, along with surrounding territory that ethnic Armenian forces had captured earlier.
An international group of journalists film a Russian peacekeepers' military helicopter as it flies over a field just outside Xankendi on October 2.
Armenian authorities have accused the Russian peacekeepers who were deployed to Nagorno-Karabakh after the 2020 war of standing by and failing to stop the Azerbaijani onslaught. Moscow has rejected the accusations, arguing that its troops did not have a mandate to intervene.
Xankendi
Azerbaijan's presidential office said Baku had presented a plan for the "reintegration" of ethnic Armenians in the region, noting that "the equality of rights and freedoms, including security, is guaranteed to everyone regardless of their ethnic, religious or linguistic affiliation."