STORY: The televised demolition, with giant metal claws tearing at the masonry of the gutted edifice, demonstratively underlined the restoration of control by Azerbaijan since its forces recaptured Karabakh last year and more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians fled.

The region had previously been de facto independent of Baku since a war that spanned the collapse of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Azerbaijani state media said the parliament building, alongside a neighboring structure housing an Armenian war veterans’ association, had been demolished as they had been constructed “illegally.”

Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of ethnic cleansing – a charge denied by Baku, which has insisted the enclave’s Armenians were welcome to remain in the territory.

Karabakh Armenians say they left en masse because they do not feel safe in Azerbaijan.