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The group included women and children
The first group of ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh arrived in Armenia a few days after Azerbaijan captured the enclave.
They marched in shortly after local officials announced plans to relocate those left homeless by the fighting.
Azerbaijan seized the territory that is home to about 120,000 ethnic Armenians earlier this week, saying it wants to reintegrate them as “equal citizens.”
But Armenia has warned that they face ethnic cleansing.
About 40 people were in the first group to leave. Armenia says it will help anyone leaving the country but has repeatedly said a mass exodus is the fault of Azerbaijani authorities.
In a televised address on Sunday, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashanyan said many within the enclave “would consider expulsion from the homeland as the only way out” if Azerbaijan did not provide “real living conditions” and “effective mechanisms to protect against ethnic cleansing.”
He reiterated that his government was ready to “welcome our brothers and sisters with love.”
But David Babayan, an adviser to Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian leader Samvel Shahramanyan, told Portal he expected almost everyone to leave.
His people “do not want to live as part of Azerbaijan – 99.9% prefer to leave our historical land,” he said.
“The fate of our poor people will go down in history as a disgrace and shame for the Armenian people and the entire civilized world,” he told Portal.
“Those who are responsible for our fate will one day have to answer to God for their sins.”
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Watch: BBC’s Olga Ivshina gains rare access to Nagorno-Karabakh under the strict supervision of a military escort
Nagorno-Karabakh – a mountainous region in the South Caucasus – is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but has been controlled by ethnic Armenians for three decades.
The enclave is supported by Armenia – but also by its ally Russia, which has stationed hundreds of soldiers there for years.
Five Russian peacekeepers were killed – alongside at least 200 ethnic Armenians and dozens of Azerbaijani soldiers – when the Azerbaijani army invaded earlier this week.
Despite Azerbaijan’s public assurances, there are ongoing fears for the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh as only an aid shipment of 70 tons of food has been allowed through since the separatists accepted a ceasefire and disarmed them.
Ethnic Armenian leaders say thousands are living without food or shelter, sleeping in basements, school buildings or outside.
In his televised address, the Armenian prime minister also suggested that Russia had not stood by him in the conflict.
His comments reflected criticism that Moscow had effectively handed over Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan – an accusation the Russian foreign minister called “ridiculous.”
“Yerevan and Baku have actually clarified the situation,” Sergei Lavrov told the UN General Assembly. “The time has come to build mutual trust.
Armenia-Azerbaijan: Nagorno-Karabakh map