At least 19,000 refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh arrived in Armenia on Tuesday. This was stated by Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatryan on television. The process of mass exodus from the Armenian enclave is underway, as more than 120,000 people live in the area occupied by Azerbaijan last week, most of them Armenians. According to Azerbaijan, today’s high-level consultations between Azerbaijan and Armenia took place “in a very constructive manner.” The Azerbaijani president’s foreign advisor sees opportunities for a way out of the conflict over the ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, he said after a conversation with his Armenian counterpart in Brussels.
The two spoke at the invitation of the Chairman of the Council of Heads of Government of the European Union, Charles Michel, who has been mediating in the Caucasus for some time. It was also attended by the German and French National Security Advisers and the European Union representative in the region. Michel’s foreign advisor was the host. A meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is scheduled for October 5 in Granada, Spain, in the presence of Charles Michel, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. This meeting had been planned for some time.
Azerbaijan invaded Nagorno-Karabakh, where ethnic Armenian separatists ruled for decades, last week. Thousands of Armenian residents fled.
In Nagorno-Karabakh, there is great fear of the new rulers, and the humanitarian situation is very tense. The European Commission today announced €5 million in humanitarian aid to people affected by the conflict. The first installment of 500,000 euros was announced last week. About 25,000 people are supposed to benefit from the aid.
Earlier today, Yerevan announced that more than 13,000 refugees had taken refuge in their homeland. Last week, the Armenian Prime Minister said that his country is preparing to receive 40,000 refugees – 2.9 million people live in Armenia.
At the last Azerbaijani border point, a long line of cars carrying refugees and their most important possessions arrives on the roof. Some pass through the border post on foot. The inspection carried out by the Azerbaijanis does not take long: the soldiers look in the bags, look in the car and do not ask for an ID card. The examination takes a little longer for men: they have to stand in front of a surveillance camera.
An Azerbaijani government source said that a search was underway for “possible war crimes perpetrators” amid the influx of refugees. This was said to be the reason why males in their twenties and thirties were photographed at the last border point.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Monday that the rights of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh will be “guaranteed.”
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