Refugee from Nagorno Karabakh in Armenia © Onnik James Krikorian 1994
Last week, on 28 September, Samvel Shahramanyan, the de facto head of the self-declared and unrecognised Nagorno Karabakh Republic, signed a decree on the dissolution of the separatist entity. Inhabited mainly by ethnic Armenians but situated within Azerbaijan, what remains of the former Soviet-era Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) will cease to exist by the end of the year.
Baku had assured local ethnic Armenians that those who chose to remain would have their rights and security protected but, after three decades of conflict and as many wars, few believed them. In fact, following renewed fighting in late September, most of the population left.
The population had been put at 120,000 but, by the time the last few residents trickled out, the number of Karabakh’s residents arriving in Armenia stood much lower at 100,617. Marco Succi, Rapid Deployment Team Manager with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), told media that only a few hundred people remain – mainly the infirm and the elderly.
Armenia says that the exodus of the Karabakh Armenians amounts to ethnic cleansing, claims that Azerbaijan strongly denies. The head of UNHCR in Yerevan, Kavita Belani, also confirmed that “there were no recorded incidents or cases of mistreatment against the people on the move”.
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The full opinion piece can be read here.
