Ethnic Armenians to leave Nagorno-Karabakh region after Azerbaijan’s victory

Europe, News September 25, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has announced that his country is preparing to take in more than 120,000 ethnic Armenians who are set to migrate from the Nagorno-Karabakh region after Azerbaijan’s military victory last week in a conflict dating to the fall of the Soviet Union.

“The likelihood is increasing that the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh will see expulsion from their homeland as the only way out,” Pashinyan said in a statement on September 23, 2023. He added that Armenia “will lovingly welcome our brothers and sisters from Nagorno-Karabakh.”

Armenia claims that more than 200 people have been killed while more than 400 have been injured as a result of Azerbaijan’s military operation in the region. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev declared victory over the enclave earlier this week, saying it was fully under Baku’s control and the idea of an independent Nagorno-Karabakh was finally confined to history.

Aliyev promised to guarantee the rights and security of Armenians living in the region, however, Armenian leadership has raised their concerns about “the danger of ethnic cleansing”, encouraging the ethnic Americans to migrate from the region. Azerbaijan’s administration has also allowed the Armenians, who are Christian, to leave if they want.

Azerbaijan seized weapons from Karabakh Armenians — ^{Azerbaijani service members demonstrate weapons and equipment, that were said to be seized from Karabakh Armenians in the course of a recent military operation, during the visit of foreign defense attaches and journalists in the Azerbaijani-controlled town of Shusha in Nagorno-Karabakh region, on September 23, 2023. (Image Credit: Reuters)}

The Nagorno-Karabakh region, also known as Artsakh by Armenia, lies in an area that has a centuries-long history dating back to the times of the Ottoman and Russian empires. The region has always been a Christian stronghold and home to ethnic Armenians.

Azerbaijan claims the region as it falls under its territorial boundaries, while Armenia claims control over it due to the ethnic Armenians who have been living in the region. The two countries have had several armed conflicts on this issue, with the latest one resulting in an evident victory for Azerbaijan.

Conflicts between the two countries have resulted in hundreds of deaths so far. A major episode of fighting came in September 2022, when more than 100 soldiers died from both sides. In 2020, after decades of skirmishes, Azerbaijan, backed by Turkey, won a decisive 44-day Second Karabakh War, recapturing territory in and around the Karabakh region. That war ended with a Russian-brokered peace deal, which Armenians accuse Moscow of failing to guarantee.

*^{Map of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict following the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war. (Image Credit: Golden/Wikipedia)}*

Armenia is a part of the Russian-led CSTO military alliance; however, Moscow has never intervened in the conflict militarily despite Yerevan’s appeals. Pashinyan blamed Russia publicly again this week for failing to do enough for Armenia. He added that he would review Armenia’s alliance with Moscow following the recent events.

Russia tried to broker several peace deals between the two former Soviet Union states, however, due to Moscow’s inclination and support towards Armenia, none of the deals have ever matured.