Agdam Rayon

Agdam ( _az. Ağdam, _hy. Աղդամ "Aghdam") is a rayon in southwestern Azerbaijan, and the same-named capital city of the rayon, which is currently a ghost town. At its height the town had over 160,000 residents, with its own airport. Because of the ongoing dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh area, the town has been under Armenian control since July 1993. Most of the refugees from Agdam now live in camps and makeshift cities in the region of Barda and Sumgait. Most part of the rayon is currently controlled by Armenian forces. According to Human Rights Watch, the Armenian forces "systematically and methodically looted and burned Agdam and the villages surrounding it", and "a Western diplomat active in the OSCE Minsk Group talks said that the burning and looting of Agdam was not the result of undisciplined troops, but was a well-orchestrated plan organized by Karabakh authorities in Stepanakert". [Azerbaijan: Seven Years of Conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. New York: Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Watch, 1994.]

The area is currently being used as a buffer zone. UN Security Council Resolution # 853, adopted on 29 July 1993, condemned “"the seizure of the district of Agdam and of all other recently occupied areas of the Azerbaijani Republic"” and demanded “"unconditional withdrawal of the occupying forces involved from the district of Agdam and all other recently occupied areas of the Azerbaijan Republic"”. [ [http://www.state.gov/p/eur/rls/or/13508.htm 1993 UN Security Council Resolutions on Nagorno-Karabakh] ]

References

ee also

*Nagorno-Karabakh war
*Azerbaijan

External links

* [http://www.caucaz.com/home_eng/breve_contenu.php?id=55 Report by Célia Chauffour on Agdam for Caucaz.com]
* [http://www.hrw.org/reports/1994/WR94/Helsinki-03.htm HRW report on the conflict]