Aziz Karimov/Getty Images
Images of Nagorno-Karabakh, whose population has been depopulated after a mass exodus (Photo of an Azerbaijani police car checking an empty street in Stepanakert on October 2, 2023)
INTERNATIONAL – Azerbaijan and Armenia stare at each other in the silence returning from the mountains. The Lachin border post between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, the only road connecting the two areas, is now in paralysis.
After nine days of panic and a sustained exodus of Armenians from the enclave along the winding road, the border is deserted. For the first time in 30 years, a UN mission arrived in the enclave on Sunday to assess humanitarian needs there.
Very little information is known about the situation in Stepanakert, whose population (55,000 inhabitants) is deserted after the lightning-fast and victorious offensive in Baku and the surrender of the separatists on September 20. The city, which Baku calls Khankendi, is still closed to the press for “security reasons.”
No destruction observed by the UN mission
The UN mission has not seen any destruction or collected reports of violence against civilians since the ceasefire, a spokesman said on Monday. Its members particularly visited Stepanakert. “In the parts of the city visited,” the team saw “no damage to civilian public infrastructure, including hospitals, schools and housing, or to cultural and religious infrastructure,” UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said, but noted that ” “no shop” seemed open”. They also saw no destruction of agricultural infrastructure or dead animals.
You cannot view this content because:
- By subscribing, you have opted out of cookies related to third-party content. You will therefore not be able to play our videos, which require third-party cookies to function.
- You are using an ad blocker. We recommend you disable it to access our videos.
If neither of these two cases apply to you, contact us at [email protected].
“Al Jazeera reports from Khankendi/Stepanakert on the exodus of Armenians: “They tell us that they have not found any cases of people who were forced to leave their homes, who were subjected to ill-treatment or whose rights were violated.” »
EMMANUEL DUNAND / AFP
Images of Nagorno-Karabakh, where the population has disappeared after a mass exodus
“Our colleagues were struck by the suddenness with which the local population fled and the suffering this experience caused them,” the UN spokesman added. However, “they have not collected information from the public or others about violence against civilians after the last ceasefire.”
100,000 refugees
The mission visited a checkpoint on the border between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, a spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said at the end of the day. For her part, the head of French diplomacy, Catherine Colonna, announced that she would travel to Armenia on Tuesday to “affirm France’s support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Armenia.” Paris had regretted that Azerbaijan only agreed to the UN mission after the mass exodus of Armenians.
EMMANUEL DUNAND / AFP
Images of Nagorno-Karabakh, whose population has been depopulated after a mass exodus (Photo of an Azerbaijani police car checking an empty street in Stepanakert on October 2, 2023)
Armenian separatists, who controlled Nagorno-Karabakh for three decades after the collapse of the USSR, surrendered last week and faced a lightning offensive from Azerbaijan that left nearly 600 dead.
Since then, the enclave has been abandoned by its residents and more than 100,000 refugees – out of the 120,000 residents who officially live there – have fled Azerbaijan for Armenia amid fears of reprisals, raising fears of a major humanitarian crisis.
“People have to live”
On Sunday, the border post between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh on the Lachin corridor, the only road connecting the two areas, was deserted, an AFP journalist noted.
The Azerbaijani Presidency announced on Sunday that a migration service had started operating in Nagorno-Karabakh’s capital, Khankendi (Stepanakert in Armenian), To the remaining residents and “ensure their sustainable reintegration” into Azerbaijani society.
The central government has “also started to establish relevant medical services in the city,” the statement said. For his part, Nazeli Baghdasaryan, spokesman for the Prime Minister of Armenia, pointed out that “the transfer of displaced persons is nearing its end and as of Sunday evening 100,514 refugees arrived in Armenia.” Of these, 47,322 are in government-provided accommodation, she added.
The day before, Nagorno-Karabakh’s former ombudsman Artak Beglarian reiterated that only “a few hundred officials, rescue workers and people with special needs” were still on site.
On their flight, the explosion at a fuel depot on Monday killed at least 170 people and injured 349, most of them suffering severe burns.
Day of prayer
For its part, Christian-majority Armenia celebrated a day of prayer for Nagorno-Karabakh on Sunday. In Yerevan, Saint Sarkis Cathedral was unusually full on Sunday morning, according to believers.
The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh “is only politics, not a question of religion: Azerbaijan is a dictatorship, has oil and gas and Europe does not need us,” he told AFP Ararat Havseian, an Iranian-Armenian citizen.
Pope Francis called on Sunday for “dialogue” between Azerbaijan and Armenia to put an end to the “humanitarian crisis” with the support of the international community.
The chaotic refugee flow has revived accusations of “ethnic cleansing” and Yerevan has again appealed to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), demanding urgent action to protect the enclave’s residents.
Azerbaijan rejects these allegations and assures residents of the enclave that they are free to leave or stay, Hikmet Hajiyev, an adviser to the Azerbaijani president, told AFP on Saturday. “We consciously refrain from flying Azerbaijani flags, we know that there are still civilians and we know their fears,” he said.
Terrorism allegations
Talks between Azerbaijani and Armenian officials from the enclave were scheduled for Monday in Stepanakert. Negotiations between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian are also expected on Thursday in Granada, Spain, under Western mediation to resolve their historic differences.
Yerevan says refugees’ fears are being fueled by a series of “illegal arrests,” even though Azerbaijani authorities have pledged to allow rebels to leave if they hand over their weapons.
Several enclave officials were arrested and charged with “terrorism” and other crimes.
On Sunday, Azerbaijani Prosecutor General Kamran Aliev announced that he was investigating possible war crimes committed by 300 separatist leaders, whom he called on to hand over to authorities.
See also on HuffPost:
You cannot view this content because:
- By subscribing, you have opted out of cookies related to third-party content. You will therefore not be able to play our videos, which require third-party cookies to function.
- You are using an ad blocker. We recommend you disable it to access our videos.
If neither of these two cases apply to you, contact us at [email protected].