A first group of refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh – also known as Nagorno-Karabakh – arrived in Armenia on Sunday. A few dozen residents, mostly women, children and the elderly, spotted an AFP team at the reception center set up by the Armenian government in Kornidzor, the gateway to the disputed enclave.
30,000 deaths in 1988 and 1994
Svetlana Isakhanian, 76, patient, in green slippers, passport and bag in hand. It’s all I have. I have no one, no relatives in Armenia, I don’t know what to do, the old lady says desperately to the volunteers who take down their names and contact details. Svetlana says her home in Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, was damaged by bombings during Azerbaijan’s lightning invasion on Wednesday.
Within 24 hours, the separatist forces lost the battle as the Yerevan government refused to commit its troops to a new conflict over the area. The enclave, inhabited mainly by Armenians, was annexed to Azerbaijani territory by Soviet power in 1921. The former republics of the USSR, Azerbaijan and Armenia, fought two deadly wars to conquer it: 30,000 dead in 1988 and 1994, 6,500 in the fall of 2020. The Azerbaijani attack left at least 200 dead and 400 injured separatists, according to Armenian on Wednesday.
Also read. Armenian separatists surrender, enclave promised to Azerbaijan
On Sunday, amid the growing crowd of refugees, Shamir, a 28-year-old farmer who declined to give his name, confessed his pain over exile: “I left everything behind, my animals, everything.” We had 15 minutes to do our things , we couldn’t take anything with us… In the center of Kornidzor, the International Committee of the Red Cross distributed food and games for children. According to several witness statements, a convoy was also able to arrive in Stepanakert, where everything was missing.
120,000 residents are to be accommodated
The government in Yerevan expects to welcome 120,000 Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh to a country of 2.7 million people. Few residents, Christians since the 4th century, want to live under Azerbaijan, a Shiite country on the shores of the Caspian Sea. The aim now is to organize the exile of families and fighters in a non-violent manner. Baku, who plays well, understands.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian expressed all the bad things he thought about Moscow. Russian peacekeepers, stationed in the area since 2020, failed to stop Baku’s troops from taking control of the enclave. Several meetings are planned to resolve this crisis. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliev on Monday in the Azerbaijani enclave of Nakhchivan between Armenia and Iran.
And a long-planned meeting in Spain on October 5 between MM. Aliev and Pashinian remains in place, according to Armenian authorities. It will take place in Granada with the participation of French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President of the European Council Charles Michel.