The figures of mass exodus of population that is taking place in the direction of Armenia and coming from the Nagorno Karabakh region show the dimension of the conflict uncovered after the takeover of the area by the Azerbaijan Army.
The Government of Armenia has raised this Friday to about 85,000 the number of displaced arrived in the country fleeing the Nagorno Karabakh region, which means 70%, about two thirds of the 120,000 inhabitants which the territory had before the offensive launched last week by Baku.
Nazeli Baghdasarián, spokesperson for the office of the Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinián, detailed that as of 6:00 a.m. (local time) this Friday, a total of 84,770 displaced people have arrived in the country fleeing the region, whose self-proclaimed authorities announced on Thursday that They will be dissolved on January 1, 2024ending 30 years of republic.
During the day on Thursday, the Armenian authorities revealed that they will deliver 100,000 Armenian drams (about 240 euros) to each of the displaced from the Nagorno Karabakh region, regardless of their age, according to a statement published by the Government through its website.
In this sense, Baghdasarián stressed the importance of the registration process, since through it it will be possible to have a record of the number of displaced people and their identity in order to deliver aid programs, available through a website enabled by the Executive.
Why is the population fleeing?
For his part, the president of the Armenian Parliament, Alen Simonian, has warned that the Azerbaijani authorities “continue to carry out ethnic cleansing at this time,” according to the Armenian state news agency, Armenpress.
“Tens of thousands of people are leaving their homes and this is happening in the 21st century, in front of the whole world. It is something truly evil,” he lamented during a European Conference of Speakers of Parliaments in the Irish capital, Dublin.
Pashinian stated on Sunday that the possibility of the Armenian population of the Nagorno-Karabakh region moving to Armenia as part of the reintegration of the territory into Azerbaijan was increasing, before warning of the danger of “ethnic cleansing”.
The Azeri authorities have always stated that their intention is for these people to remain in their homes and has promised to respect their rights, although Yerevan has been skeptical about these commitments and tens of thousands of people have chosen to leave the area.
The origin of the conflict
Nagorno Karabakh is a territory of about 4,400 square kilometers in the South Caucasus recovered by Azerbaijan in a military offensive of just 24 hours that began on September 19, after the wars between 1988 and 1994 and that of 2020. Until then the area, Armenian majority, had been under the control of pro-Armenian forces for more than three decades despite the fact that the international community recognized the region as Azeri sovereignty.
The ceasefire announced on September 20 after the offensive, which left more than 200 dead in Nagorno Karabakh and resulted in the death of more than 190 Azeri soldiers, includes the disarmament of armed groups, the withdrawal of Armenian soldiers – although Yerevan denies that they are deployed in the area – and the “reintegration” of the territory in Azerbaijan, for which two meetings have been held so far between delegations from Azerbaijan and Armenian representatives from the region.
Source: Lasexta
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