Over 1 lakh people fled from Karabakh, claims Armenia

Yerevan (Armenia), September 30

An ethnic Armenian exodus has nearly emptied Nagorno-Karabakh of residents since Azerbaijan attacked and ordered the breakaway region’s militants to disarm, the Armenian government said on Saturday.

Nazeli Baghdasaryan, the press secretary to Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan, said 1,00,417 people had arrived in Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh, which had a population of around 1,20,000 before Azerbaijan reclaimed the region in a lightning offensive last week.

A total of 21,043 vehicles had crossed the Hakari bridge, which links Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh, since last week, Baghdasaryan said. The departure of more than 80 per cent of Nagorno-Karabakh’s population raises questions about Azerbaijan’s plans for the enclave that was internationally recognised as part of its territory. Pashinyan has alleged the ethnic Armenian exodus amounted to “a direct act of an ethnic cleansing and depriving people of their motherland”.

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry strongly rubbished the allegations, saying the mass migration by the region’s residents was “their personal and individual decision. — Agencies