Nagorno-Karabakh

Halo Trust, a U.S- supported charity, clears land mines and cluster bombs left over from the 1992-1994 war. (U. Filimonova/VOA)

Halo Trust workers plot locations of unexploded ordinance -- still deadly after 20 years. (U. Filimonova/VOA)

A portable display teaches children and farmers what landmines and hand grenades look like. (U. Filimonova/VOA)

Banners mark 25th anniversary of the 1988 vote by Soviet of People's Deputies of Karabakh to secede from Azerbaijan. (U. Filimonova/VOA)

Stepanakert's abandoned rail station is a reminder of Soviet days when trains descended the mountains daily. Now this route east is blocked by the 1994 ceasefire line separating Azeri and Armenian soldiers. (U. Filimonova)

In Shushi, the twin minarets of an abandoned mosque are reminders that this mountaintop city violently changed hands between Muslim Azeris and Christian Armenians several times during the 20th century. (U. Filimonova)

Agriculture remains the backbone of Nagorno-Karabakh's economy. But old land mines often block farmers from the best fields. (U. Filimonova/VOA)

At Stepanakert's Griboedova Middle School No. 3 boys know that obligatory military service faces them at age 18. (U. Filimonova/VOA)

As life in Stepanakert returns to normal, Armenian women catch up over lunch at an Italian restaurant, located across the street from a bombed out building. (U. Filimonova)

Shrouded in mists, Nagorno-Karabakh, or mountainous Karabakh, is a breakaway region of Azerbaijan, controlled for the last 20 years by ethnic Armenians. (U. Filimonova/VOA)