2023-09-26 02:48:32
Read also: In the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis, Turkey and Azerbaijan celebrate their “common victory”
Thousands of residents of Nagorno-Karabakh have already taken refuge in Armenia, despite Azerbaijan’s promise, reiterated Monday by its president, Ilham Aliev, that the rights of Armenians who will remain in this enclave conquered by its army would be “guaranteed “.
He spoke alongside his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a key player in the region, just a few days following the lightning victory of Azerbaijani soldiers once morest the troops of the self-proclaimed “republic” of Nagorno-Karabakh, a region mainly populated by Armenians attached to Azerbaijan in 1921 by Soviet power.
200 dead
The European Union is due to receive senior representatives of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Brussels on Tuesday, two former Soviet republics which clashed militarily in Nagorno-Karabakh from 1988 to 1994 (30,000 dead) and in the fall 2020 (6500 deaths). The death toll from last week’s blitzkrieg invasion is 200 dead, according to the Armenian side.
Simon Mordue, main diplomatic advisor to the President of the European Council Charles Michel, will chair this meeting in Brussels. Azerbaijan and Armenia, as well as France and Germany, will be represented by their national security advisers. The EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus, Estonian diplomat Toivo Klaar, will also participate.
Read also: Armenia distances itself from Moscow
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and the Azerbaijani President will meet on October 5 in Granada, Spain, with the participation of French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and European Council President Charles Michel, a meeting planned long-standing which has not been cancelled.
The influx of refugees continues
In the meantime, the influx of refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh onto Armenian soil continues, with huge traffic jams on the only road linking its “capital” Stepanakert to Armenia. Azerbaijan has pledged to allow rebels who surrender their weapons to go to Armenia. Many fear that Armenians will flee en masse from Nagorno-Karabakh as Azerbaijani forces tighten their grip. Because in addition to the anxiety that reigns among the approximately 120,000 inhabitants of the region, the humanitarian situation remains very tense.
In front of the Goris theater, in the Armenian region of Syunik, white minibuses arrive constantly. Others leave, their trunks loaded with luggage, towards Yerevan and the country’s major cities.
Read also: Nikol Pashinian, the Armenian Prime Minister condemned to a desperate race
The influx into this city of around twenty thousand inhabitants, the first step for refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh, began on the evening of Sunday. Past the Kornidzor post, immediately following the border, those who have “nowhere to go”, like Valentina Asrian, are brought there.
“Who would have thought that the Turks (the name commonly given to Azerbaijanis in the region) would enter this historic Armenian village,” laments Valentina, whose brother-in-law was killed in last week’s bombings and who is holding her little -son swaddled once morest his body. Last week, Nikol Pashinian announced that his country of 2.9 million inhabitants was preparing to welcome 40,000 refugees.
Russia, which sees the Caucasus as its backyard and deployed a peacekeeping force in this territory three years ago following a brief offensive by Azerbaijan, for its part firmly rejected on Monday the criticisms made by Nikol Pashinian who accused Russia of having abandoned its ally.
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