Thousands of Armenians flee Nagorno-Karabakh after Azerbaijan conquest

Many who have taken flight fear they will never see their homeland again, as ITV News Correspondent John Ray reports

Thousands of ethnic Armenians have fled Nagorno-Karabakh after Azerbaijan reclaimed the enclave last week.

The Azerbaijani military routed Armenian forces in a 24-hour blitz last week, forcing the separatist authorities to agree to lay down weapons and start talks on Nagorno-Karabakh's "reintegration" into Azerbaijan after three decades of separatist rule.

The region is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan and lies entirely within its territory but has a large ethnic Armenian population.

The reclaiming of the territory has been celebrated in Azerbaijan and the country was visited by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday in a show of support to its ally.

While Azerbaijan pledged to respect the rights of ethnic Armenians in the region and restore supplies after a 10-month blockade, many local residents feared reprisals and said they were planning to leave for Armenia.

The Armenian government said that 4,850 Nagorno-Karabakh residents had fled to Armenia as of midday Monday.

"It was a nightmare. There are no words to describe. The village was heavily shelled. Almost no one is left in the village," one evacuee said.

Moscow said that Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh were assisting the evacuation.

Azerbaijan's Defence Ministry said on Monday that two of its soldiers were killed a day earlier when a military truck hit a land mine. It didn't name the area where the explosion occurred.

In an address to the nation on Sunday, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said his government was working with international partners to protect the rights and security of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.

"If these efforts do not produce concrete results, the government will welcome our sisters and brothers from Nagorno-Karabakh in the Republic of Armenia with every care," he said.

Demonstrators demanding Pashinyan's resignation continued blocking the Armenian capital's main avenues Monday, clashing occasionally with police.

Russian peacekeepers have been in the region since 2020, when a Russian-brokered armistice ended a six-week war between Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Pashinyan and many others in Armenia accused the peacekeepers of failing to prevent the hostilities and protect the Armenian population.

Moscow rejected the accusations, arguing that its forces had no legal grounds to intervene, particularly after Pashinyan's recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan.

"We are categorically against attempts to put the blame on the Russian side, especially the Russian peacekeepers, who have shown a true heroism," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Nagorno-Karabakh came under the control of ethnic Armenian forces, backed by the Armenian military, in separatist fighting that ended in 1994.

During the war in 2020, Azerbaijan took back parts of Nagorno-Karabakh along with surrounding territory that Armenian forces had claimed during the earlier conflict.

In December, Azerbaijan imposed a blockade of the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia, alleging that the Armenian government was using the road for mineral extraction and illicit weapons shipments to the region’s separatist forces.

Armenia charged that the closure denied basic food and fuel supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh’s approximately 120,000 people.

On Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron pledged support for Armenia and Armenians, saying that France will mobilise food and medical aid for the population of Nagorno-Karabakh, and keep working towards a "sustainable peace" in the region.

France, which has a big Armenian diaspora, has for decades played a mediating role in Nagorno-Karabakh.

"France is very vigilant about Armenia’s territorial integrity because that is what is at stake," Macron said in an interview with France-2 and TF1 television, accusing Russia of complicity with Azerbaijan and charging that Turkey threatens Armenia’s borders.

Russia has been the main ally and sponsor of Armenia and has a military base there, but it has also sought to maintain friendly ties with Azerbaijan.

Moscow's clout in the region has waned quickly amid the Russian war in Ukraine while the influence of Azerbaijan's top ally Turkey has increased.

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