More than 80% of Nagorno-Karabakh population flees to Armenia

(Patria) - The exodus of more than 80% of Nagorno-Karabakh's population raises questions about Azerbaijan's plans for the ethnic Armenian enclave after its lightning offensive last week to reclaim the breakaway region, AP reports.

The Armenian government said Friday evening that more than 97,700 people, out of about 120,000
residents, have fled to Armenia since Azerbaijan attacked Nagorno-Karabakh. The enclave's separatist government said it would dissolve by the end of the year after three decades of fighting for independence.

Some people queued for days to flee Nagorno-Karabakh as the only road to
Armenia, a winding mountain pass, became clogged with slow-moving vehicles.

Armenian Health Minister Anahit Avanesyan said some people, including the elderly, died on the way to Armenia because they were “exhausted from malnutrition, ran out of even their medications, and were on the road for more than 40 hours.”

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Thursday that the exodus of ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh represented “a direct act of ethnic cleansing and dispossession of the homeland.” Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry strongly rejected the accusations, saying the departure of Armenians was “their personal and individual decision and has nothing to do with forced resettlement.”

Baku announced that previously expelled Azeris would have the right to return to Nagorno-Karabakh.

“I don’t want to live with Azerbaijanis,” said Narine Karamyan (50). “Maybe there are people who will return to their homes, I don’t want that. I want to live as an Armenian.”

Armine Ghazaryan, who crossed into Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh with four young children, said it was the second time she had been displaced from her home, adding that she had previously taken shelter with her children in her neighbours’ basement during the 2020 war.

“Here at least we live in peace. At least we stay in Armenia,” she said upon arrival in the Armenian city of Goris.