Thousands of people in buses, trucks and private vehicles have left Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia and thousands more expect to do so in the coming days. The Armenian government announced on Monday afternoon that 6,650 people had crossed the border. The enclave – Armenian-majority but on territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan – had a population of 120,000 before Azerbaijani forces launched their latest offensive last week with the aim of regaining full control of the region, which they describe from Baku as “separatist”.
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“The influx of internally displaced people continued throughout the night. “Work is underway to assess their needs and provide them with housing,” the National Council of Armenia said in a statement this morning. Refugees arriving in the Republic of Armenia are identified and, if they do not have an address for family or friends to turn to, they are relocated to locations near the border.
Several images posted on social networks show long lines of private vehicles occupying the highway from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. “People are desperately trying to find gas while others are waiting for the bus to leave,” wrote Siranush Sargsián, a journalist based in Stepanakert (the enclave’s capital), on his X account (formerly Twitter).
On Monday afternoon, a serious incident occurred at the Stepanakert fuel distribution center when a gasoline tank exploded, injuring numerous people who had come to collect fuel to fill the tanks of their vehicles and leave them. Fuel shortages due to the Azerbaijani blockade of the enclave meant it had to be rationed for months, leading to hundreds of people queuing at the time of the explosion. “As a result of the explosion in the fuel tank, there are hundreds of injured and victims,” the Karabakh ombudsman’s office said, without specifying the number. As a source from the enclave’s administration explained, witnesses to the accident said there were several dozen deaths, although this could not be officially confirmed. The injured were taken to the Republican Hospital and Stepanakert Children’s Hospital for treatment, and several resident accounts in the enclave posted videos and photos of hundreds of people waiting outside the medical centers. Due to the large number of injured people and the lack of medical staff and medicines due to the blockade, not everyone can be treated. “To save lives, it is urgent to evacuate them by air,” the ombudsman’s office published.
The authorities of the so-called Republic of Artsakh, as Armenians call Nagorno-Karabakh, have urged the population not to panic and not to leave hastily, as the flight causes traffic jams and prevents the arrival of humanitarian convoys and the evacuation of the wounded. Since the 2020 war, this road – the so-called Lachin Corridor – has been the only route connecting Karabakh with Armenia. The president of the self-proclaimed republic, Samvel Shahramanián, assured his fellow citizens that anyone who wants to leave the enclave can do so, but called for priority to be given to the evacuation of those people who have lost their homes by fleeing the fighting and the Advance of Azerbaijani troops affected cities.
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This Monday, retired General Vitali Balasanián, former chairman of the National Security Council, former deputy and presidential candidate in the last elections in the enclave, assured in statements to the Armenian channel 24news that he would stay in Nagorno-Karabakh because this is the place where he always lived. He is the first political leader to openly express his willingness to stay following the capitulation of the Armenian armed forces and the announcement that the enclave will be “reintegrated” into Azerbaijan’s administrative structure without special status.
Meanwhile, the Karabakhs continue to bury their dead. Although there is no official update on the number of Armenian victims of the latest Azerbaijani offensive beyond the figure of 200 reported on Wednesday, the enclave’s Interior Ministry announced this Monday that another 102 bodies were found on Saturday and Sunday – four of them civilians – in several villages.
In addition, representatives of Karabakh and the Azerbaijani government met for the second time since Thursday, although unofficial information claims that another informal meeting took place over the weekend. Negotiators agreed to set up working groups to focus on various issues and alleviate the humanitarian situation.
Meeting between Erdogan and Aliyev
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev this Monday in the Nakhichevan exclave, an Azerbaijani region separated from the rest of the territory and located between Armenia and Turkey. The purpose of the visit was to start work on a gas pipeline connecting Nakhchivan and Turkey, but it was also an act of support for the Turkish president, a key ally of Azerbaijan in its recent military victories, which Erdogan himself described as such ” a source of pride.”
The Azerbaijani leader took the opportunity to send a message to Armenia in which he accused the former Soviet Union of depriving Azerbaijan of the territory of Western Zangezur (the Armenian province of Syunik), “and thus the geographical connections between Nakhichevan and the rest” of the country. Through this area, it is planned to establish the so-called Zangezur corridor through Armenian territory, one of the conditions of the 2020 ceasefire, which, in addition to unifying both Azerbaijani territories, would also serve to reduce the cost of transporting Turkish goods to the Caucasus and Central Asia. “The construction of the railway line between Azerbaijan, Nakhichevan and Türkiye is progressing successfully. “Probably, the work on the territory of Azerbaijan will be completed by the end of next year,” Aliyev assured.
In principle, this corridor should remain under Russian supervision, but after Moscow’s passivity in defending the Armenians, despite them being strategic allies, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan considered it “inadmissible” for these roads not to be under the control of Yerevan . In fact, it is a complicated matter for the current government of Nikol Pashinián, which is surrounded by protests from the opposition, which accuses him of being a traitor and of failing to defend Armenian sovereignty. More than 80 people were arrested during protests last week and this Monday another eight people from an organization called “Crusaders of War and the Fatherland”, including a former mayor of Yerevan, were arrested on charges of planning a coup d’état and the assassination of the Prime Minister.
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