2023-09-30 11:53:47
Armenians who fled Nagorno-Karabakh, in Goris, Armenia, September 29, 2023. ALAIN JOCARD / AFP
After the defeat of the separatist forces against Azerbaijan, almost the entire Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh fled: more than 100,000 refugees have already arrived in Armenia, according to Nazeli Baghdassarian, the spokesperson for the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
According to official figures, around 120,000 Armenians lived in the enclave before the announcement of the dissolution of this self-proclaimed separatist republic on Thursday September 28, a week after the victorious offensive by Azerbaijani forces which put an end to the one of the oldest “frozen conflicts” in the former USSR.
“There are at most a few hundred civil servants, emergency workers, volunteers and people with special needs remaining, who are also preparing to leave”, wrote on (formerly Twitter) the former Nagorno-Karabakh rights ombudsman, Artak Beglarian, specifying that this information is not “not official”. In a few days, despite calls from Azerbaijan to stay in the territory, more than 80% of residents left their homes for fear of reprisals by burning their personal belongings before joining the refugee column. .
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Anger in Armenia
This fear of the inhabitants is fueled, according to Armenia, by a series of“illegal arrests”, although the Azerbaijani authorities have committed to allowing rebels who surrender their weapons to leave. Several officials from the enclave were detained, accused of “terrorism” and other crimes.
The chaotic flow of civilians has revived accusations of a “ethnic cleansing” and Yerevan launched a new appeal to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), demanding urgent measures to protect the enclave’s residents.
The United Nations announced the sending this weekend of a mission to Nagorno-Karabakh to mainly assess humanitarian needs, although the organization had not had access to this region “for about thirty years”.
France deplored this authorization “limited” and late consent by Azerbaijan after the flight of the population “under the complicit gaze of Russia”. The Quai d’Orsay stressed on Saturday September 30 that Paris was reaffirming “its commitment to supporting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Armenia where these populations have found refuge”.
In an Armenia overwhelmed by exiles, anger is now brewing. Opponents of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, accused of passivity in the face of Baku’s lightning victory, planned to organize a rally on Saturday.
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Yerevan blames Russia, a traditional ally supposed to guarantee full respect of the ceasefire since 2020 and which did not intervene. Moscow must now discuss with Azerbaijan the future of its now obsolete peacekeeping mission.
Nearly 600 dead
Nearly 600 deaths have been reported in the wake of Baku’s victorious military offensive. The fighting itself killed around 200 soldiers on each side.
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The authorities of the enclave decreed on Thursday the dissolution “of all government institutions (…) as of January 1, 2024 », thus marking the end of the existence of the “Nagorno-Karabakh Republic”, self-proclaimed more than three decades ago. Its panicked residents left their homes for fear of reprisals after burning their personal belongings.
This predominantly Christian region, which seceded from predominantly Muslim Azerbaijan upon the disintegration of the USSR, opposed Baku for more than three decades, notably during two wars between 1988 and 1994 and in the fall 2020. The enclave has been massively militarized.
Between Kornidzor and Goris, near a gas station where he loaded his car with gas bottles on Friday, former soldier Garri Harioumian, 38, said he had deleted photos of his “dead friends” on the front.
In their flight on the only mountainous road linking the territory to Armenia, at least 170 people also died in the explosion of a fuel depot on Monday. The accident also left 349 people injured, most of them suffering from serious burns.
Samvel Hambardsoumian, taken into care in Goris, is one of them: his face is partially burned and his two hands are surrounded by thick bandages. “There were nine people in front of me in line. If they hadn’t been there, I would have been burned.”confides the 61-year-old man.
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