Turkish flag seen at entrance to Shushi, approached by Russian column on Nov. 13. Reuters video image grab.

Some 150 bodies of Armenian servicemen killed in the vicinity of Shushi were collected over the weekend, NKR president Arayik Harutyunyan said. Prior to that, the Armenian Health Ministry reported that 2,317 bodies of Armenians killed in the war had been collected from September 27 to November 14, with some 900 yet to be identified.

While Azerbaijan keeps its losses classified, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that 293 Turkish Syrian mercenaries were killed in the Karabakh fighting, with 224 bodies returned to Syria as of November 15. SOHR also reported that several mercenary units remain in Karabakh.

There were also reports of Turkey concentrating forces in Idgir area, opposite Yerevan and in vicinity of Azerbaijan’s Nakhichevan enclave. The troop movement occurred as Turkish officials insisted on being included in the peacekeeping mission in Karabakh and threatened Armenia with further fighting, unless the November 9 agreement is fully implemented. The Turkish government also moved to seek formal parliamentary approval for a military deployment in Azerbaijan.

As Russian forces deployed observation posts in the Mardakert district in the north of Karabakh, the anticipated Armenian pullout from Karvajar (Kelbajar) district was postponed by ten days to November 25. A pullout from Aghdam district is still expected by November 20. While exodus of civilians from throughout Karabakh continued, simultaneously more than 1,000 previously displaced by fighting returned from Yerevan to Stepanakert, escorted by Russian peacekeepers. The NKR government encouraged more Artsakh residents to return.

Personnel from the Russian Emergencies Ministry arrived in Stepanakert on November 16 to conduct a needs assessment.