TRANSCRIPT
In less than a week, tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians have fled the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Student Lucina Mizoyana is among those who left for Armenia. During the chaos of the last week, she has lost touch with her family.
“There is no shelter to hide from bombs. So I was very concerned because I couldn't contact them. I was very concerned about their lives. They left, they just came, all my family, packed their lives in one packet and left their homes that they were building for years.”
She says there isn't a single person willing to remain in the city.
More than 70-thousand have now left the mountainous region which is completely enclosed with Azerbaijan, for Armenia. That has depleted an estimated population of 120-thousand in Nagorno-Karabakh by more than half.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan says at this rate, there will be no ethnic Armenians left in Nagorno-Karabakh.
"The exodus of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh continues as a result of Azerbaijan's ethnic cleansing policy. Analysis show that in the coming days there will be no more Armenians left in Nagorno-Karabakh. This is a direct act of ethnic cleansing and deprivation of a homeland, as we have been telling the international community for a long time."
The mountainous region is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan.
But following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the area has been controlled by ethnic Armenians who lived there for three decades. A nine-month blockade of the region came to a head when Azerbaijan launched a military operation it says was targeted at criminal separatists. That operation lasted 24 hours before Azerbaijan declared a truce, including terms to reintegrate the area into Azerbaijan.
The leader of the ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh says ethnic Armenians fear they have no future in Nagorno-Karabakh, despite assurances from Azerbaijani officials that they won't be harmed. Samvel Shahramanyan says he has signed an order dissolving all state institutions from 1 January, meaning Nagorno-Karabakh as it is now will cease to exist.
The United Nations says the movement of such large numbers of people is concerning - and it has urged Azerbaijani authorities to ensure humanitarian principles are upheld.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric says people from the Nagorno-Karabakh region are in need of physical and emotional support.
“The High Commissioner for Refugees on the situation in the Caucasus, UNHCR, says it’s deeply concerned about the rapidly increasing number of refugees fleeing into Armenia, with long queues reported at the border. UNHCR tells us that people arriving are traumatized, exhausted and hungry, and need urgent psychosocial support and emergency assistance, including warm clothes, blankets and medicine."
Armenia has set up two main centers in the cities of Goris and Vayk to register and assess the needs of those fleeing Nagorno-Karabakh.
The government is offering accommodation to anyone who doesn't have a place to stay, although only 20 per cent of those who have arrived - nearly 14-thousand people [[13,922]] - have applied for it.
Gyurchora Asryan, a 64-year-old refugee from Nagorno-Karabakh, says she and her family hope to reach the Armenian capital Yerevan.
“Three days [after the negotiations] when we learned about integration with Azerbaijan we decided that we didn’t want to be integrated and left. It took us several days to collect our stuff and leave. And we have been on the road for three days. Today we reached Goris and waited for other our relatives to arrive. From here we will go to Yerevan.”
Azerbaijan denies all accusations of ethnic-cleansing, saying it their individual choice of residents to leave. The country's foreign ministry says it is not forcing people to leave; and that it will peacefully reintegrate the Karabakh region and guarantee the civic rights of the ethnic Armenians.
Azerbaijan's ambassador to London, Elin Suleymanov, says authorities do not want a mass exodus from Karabakh.
Advisor to Azerbaijan's president, Elchin Amirbayov, says his country is in a difficult position.
“It is very hard for us to prevent them from leaving because if we would try to do that, we would be accused of holding them, sort of hostage. If we would encourage them to leave, then of course, the Armenian side would immediately engage in this rhetoric of ethnic cleansing. But that's why we've stepped back, we're trying to do our best in order to reassure them, not with words but rather with actions."
The evacuation of Nagorno-Karabakh by Armenian citizens and its takeover by Azerbaijan can also be seen as a loss for Russia, a traditional ally for Armenia, according to researcher Dr Sascha Nanlohy.
The Sydney-based researcher specialises in peace and conflict studies, including the prevention of atrocities and genocide. He says Russia has chosen to keep its distance from the situation.
“They've sought to maintain their interest in Nagorno-Karabakh via having peacekeepers on the ground but not necessarily stopping the movements of Azerbaijan, both in the 2020 war and more recently. So I believe it's the case that Russia has the capability, if they wanted, to restrain Azerbaijan but they are choosing not to."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says Russia does not accept any blame for the situation, saying he does not believe there is a direct reason why people are leaving in such large numbers.
"We are closely monitoring the situation, humanitarian aspect in the first place, it is the most important. Our peacekeepers continue aiding people. Many have decided to move to the territory of Armenia - everyone is receiving help."
Historian and author Thomas de Waal says it is a volatile situation that will be closely watched.
“Obviously, I think there are two things to watch now: one is inside Armenia itself, enormous anger with prime minister Nikol Pashinyan who's definitely made many mistakes, and the Russians basically openly instigating a regime change."
