Nagorno-Karabakh: 100,000 Refugees Seek Shelter in Armenia

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30th Sep, 2023. 07:15 pm
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Over 100,000 people have fled Nagorno-Karabakh following its seizure by Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan aims to reintegrate the region, but Armenia disputes this claim.
The conflict has resulted in at least 200 ethnic Armenian deaths and dozens of Azerbaijani soldiers.

Armenia reports that more than 100,000 individuals have evacuated the Nagorno-Karabakh region, representing nearly the entire population of this ethnic Armenian enclave following its seizure by Azerbaijan last week.

Azerbaijan has expressed its intention to reintegrate the region and treat its inhabitants equally. However, an Armenian spokesperson has dismissed these claims as false.

Nagorno-Karabakh, officially recognized as part of Azerbaijan, had been under the control of ethnic Armenians for the past three decades.

This mountainous region in the South Caucasus received support not only from Armenia but also from its ally, Russia.

The conflict resulted in the deaths of at least 200 ethnic Armenians and dozens of Azerbaijani soldiers as Azerbaijan’s military advanced. As part of a ceasefire agreement, separatists have agreed to surrender their weapons.

The leader of the self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh has announced that it will cease to exist in the new year.

According to Nazeli Baghdasaryan, spokesperson for Armenia’s prime minister, the number of refugees entering Armenia in the past week has reached 100,417, out of an estimated population of 120,000 in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has also confirmed that over 100,000 people have fled the region, with many of them facing hunger, exhaustion, and an urgent need for assistance.

Artak Beglaryan, an Armenian former separatist official, said that “the last groups” of Nagorno-Karabakh residents were on their way to Armenia on Saturday.

“At most a few hundred persons remain, most of whom are officials, emergency services employees, volunteers, some persons with special needs,” he wrote on social media.

Apart from the casualties resulting from the Azerbaijani military operation, there were also at least 170 fatalities due to a massive explosion at a fuel depot in Nagorno-Karabakh on Monday.

The cause of the explosion near the main city of Khankendi referred to as Stepanakert by Armenians, remains unclear.

The United Nations has announced plans to send a mission to Nagorno-Karabakh over the upcoming weekend to evaluate the humanitarian situation.

This visit was permitted by Azerbaijan, despite criticism regarding the timing.

Armenia’s ambassador-at-large, Edmon Marukyan, voiced concerns about the timing of the visit but emphasized the importance of allowing UN officials to witness firsthand the challenges faced by ethnic Armenians in the region.

“It’s good they will be there and they will become witnesses that these people were ethnically cleansed from their ancestral homeland, from their homes where their parents, where their ancestors were living and these people were cleansed from this territory,” he told the BBC.

But he dismissed Azerbaijan’s assurances as “a lie”.

“It’s total propaganda, another Azerbaijani fake propaganda. Nobody’s going to stay in Nagorno-Karabakh,” he said.

Nagorno-Karabakh: 100,000 Refugees Seek Shelter in Armenia

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