Nagorno-Karabakh’s 120,000 ethnic Armenians will leave for Armenia because they do not want to live within Azerbaijan and fear being victims of ethnic cleansing, the enclave’s leadership told Reuters on Sunday (September 24). separatist.
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A first group of refugees fleeing the Nagorno-Karabakh entered Armenia this Sunday, September 24. In the afternoon, a few dozen residents of this mountainous enclave, including women, children and the elderly, arrived at the reception center set up by the Armenian government in Kornidzor, on the Armenian-Armenian border. Azerbaijani.
In the Armenian town of Goris, other facilities, equipped with first aid kits, megaphones and dozens of computers, were also seen. According to the Armenian government, there are a total of 377 “ people forced to leave » who passed through the Armenian side this Sunday evening. According to the latest count from the Russian Defense Ministry, 311 civilians, including 102 children, were escorted by the Russian peacekeeping force on the Armenian side. “ Russian peacekeeping contingent ensures it continues to shelter 715 civilians, including 402 children », waiting for a solution.
The authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh had shortly before announced that civilians left without housing due to the latest violence would be transferred to Armenia with the help of Russian peacekeepers, present there since the previous war, in 2020. Azerbaijan, for its part, has undertaken to allow rebels who surrender their weapons to go to Armenia. And it is through the same Kornidzor border post that 23 ambulances transporting “ seriously injured citizens » accompanied by doctors and Red Cross employees must pass, said the Armenian Ministry of Health.
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Many fear that the population of Nagorno-Karabakh will flee en masse as Azerbaijani forces tighten their grip. Because in addition to the anxiety that reigns among the approximately 120,000 inhabitants of the enclave, the humanitarian situation remains very tense. Surrounded by Azerbaijani troops, its “capital”, Stepanakert, is deprived of electricity and fuel and its population lacks food and medicine.
The Armenian government said it was ready to welcome them all. But it will not be easy, Charles Urjewicz, professor emeritus at Inalco and specialist in Armenia, explains to RFI: “ Armenia is eaten away by unemployment, Armenia is simply poor. I think many of these refugees will eventually leave Armenia. Either to Russia or to the West. The European Union has a role to play and it is in this type of situation that it must show its viability, its humanity. The whole question is to know under what conditions all this will take place. »
Blame on Russia
Armenia has also implicitly criticized Russia for its lack of support following the victory of the Azerbaijani army against the separatists of Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory mainly populated by Armenians. “ The external security systems in which Armenia is involved have proven ineffective in protecting its security and interests », insisted Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in a televised intervention. An allusion to the long-standing relations that this Caucasian country maintains with Moscow inherited from the time when it was part, like neighboring Azerbaijan, of the USSR.
Armenia is still a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a military alliance headed by Russia. But for Professor Charles Urjewicz, it is clear that Armenia no longer has confidence in Russia. “ It is obvious. From there to thinking that it can afford a total break with Russia is another story. Who will replace Russia? Who will be able to help Armenia in this terrible ordeal it is going through? For Armenia, the absolutely central problem is how to compensate for this Russian alliance and how to compensate for this support not only politically, but also economically. », he analyzes to RFI.
On Saturday September 23, a first aid convoy from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) entered Nagorno-Karabakh, while, the UN forum in New York, Armenia demanded the sending “ immediate » from a United Nations mission, reiterating its accusations of “ ethnic cleansing “.
(And with AFP)
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