Armenia claims that at than 100,000 people have left the Nagorno-Karabakh territory.
It indicates that since Azerbaijan seized control of the area last week, practically the entire population of the ethnic Armenian enclave has departed.
An Armenian representative called Azerbaijan’s claims that it wants to reintegrate the region and treat its citizens equally as “lies.”
Since it was recognized as being a part of Azerbaijan, ethnic Armenians have ruled Nagorno-Karabakh for three decades.
Armenia, as well as its partner, Russia, has backed the rugged South Caucasus region.
As the Azerbaijani army stormed in, at least 200 ethnic Armenians as well as numerous Azerbaijani soldiers were murdered. Separatists have agreed to hand over their weapons as part of a cease-fire agreement.
Nagorno-Karabakh’s self-declared Republic will dissolve in the coming year, according to its leader.
Out of Nagorno-Karabakh’s estimated 120,000 inhabitants, 100,417 refugees have entered the nation in the past week, according to Nazeli Baghdasaryan, a spokesperson for Armenia’s prime minister.
100,000 people have fled, according to the UNHCR, who also noted that many of them “are hungry, exhausted, and need immediate assistance.”
According to Artak Beglaryan, a former figure in the Armenian separatist movement, “the last groups” of people of Nagorno-Karabakh were traveling to Armenia on Saturday.
The majority of the survivors are authorities, emergency service personnel, volunteers, and some people with special needs, he said on social media.
Conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh explained
Survivors describe the attack in Karabakh
Azerbaijan’s defense ministry reported that an Armenian army sniper had killed one of its personnel in Kalbajar and that its forces were implementing “retaliatory measures” as hundreds of Armenians fled Nagorno-Karabakh.
The charge was quickly refuted by Armenia.
On the northwest corner of the area, close to the Armenian border, is Kalbajar. In November 2020, Azerbaijani soldiers regained the territory.
In addition to those murdered during the military operation by Azerbaijan last week, a massive explosion at a gasoline station in Nagorno-Karabakh on Monday also claimed at least 170 lives.
The explosion that occurred close to Khankendi, often known as Stepanakert to Armenians, is still under investigation.
Following Azerbaijan’s declaration that it would permit such a visit, the UN has announced that it will send a mission to Nagorno-Karabakh this weekend to evaluate the humanitarian situation.
Edmon Marukyan, the ambassador-at-large for Armenia, criticized the timing of the visit but emphasized that it was crucial that UN officials witnessed firsthand the suffering that ethnic Armenians had through.
“It’s good that they will be there and that they will become witnesses that these people were ethnically cleansed from their ancestral homeland, from their homes where their parents, where their ancestors were living, and these people were totally cleansed from this territory,” he told the BBC.
He, though, called Azerbaijan’s guarantees “a lie” and rejected them.
“It’s complete propaganda, more bogus propaganda from Azerbaijan. Nobody will remain in Nagorno-Karabakh, he declared.