The Armenian government today counted 28,120 refugees who have arrived in the country since Sunday from Nagorno Karabakh, an area populated by Armenians but belonging to Azerbaijan.

Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Tigrán Khachatrián explained that the majority of displaced people have housing or family members who welcome them to Armenian territory.

The rest are being housed in hostels, hotels, shelters and other buildings in the city of Goris, near the border with Azerbaijan.

Television images show long lines of cars on the road leading to the humanitarian center in the small border town of Kornidzor, although it is not known how many of the 120,000 Karabakhs will choose to remain in the area.

Refugees wait in their cars to cross the border and leave Karabakh towards Armenia on September 26, 2023. Hundreds of vehicles were heading to Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh, following the lightning offensive against the separatist enclave.
Photo: AFP

The UN today viewed the rapid increase in the number of Armenians leaving Nagorno-Karabakh as alarming and called on all parties to protect civilians and provide them with safe corridors.

“We ask that you refrain from actions that could cause the displacement of civilians and that you guarantee their safety and human rights. “No one should be forced to leave their home,” United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) spokesperson Shabia Mantoo said in Geneva.

For her part, the head of the United States Agency for Development (USAID), Samantha Power, today announced $11.5 million in humanitarian assistance when visiting the Kornidzor center.

“The money will be used to buy food and also to pay for social and psychological assistance,” he told the press.

The day before, the US official handed Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinián a telegram in which the President of the United States, Joe Biden, offered him humanitarian aid.

In this regard, the Ministry of Infrastructure of Armenia today assured that the Armenian state has sufficient resources to meet the needs of all refugees.

This Sunday, authorities of the self-proclaimed republic of Nagorno Karabakh, which capitulated after the military operation launched by Azerbaijan a week ago, announced that civilians left homeless and sheltered by Russian peacekeepers could move to neighboring Armenia if they wanted. wish, they wanted.

The rest of the citizens who want to leave the region, which will be integrated into Azerbaijan, will be able to do so after the transfer of the displaced persons is completed, the Information Center of the self-proclaimed republic said.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev has pledged to respect the rights of Karabakhs, although Pashinian denounced an “ethnic cleansing” of the mountainous region. (JO)