Some 1,050 refugees from arrived in Armenia on Sunday following Azerbaijan’s military operation to take control of the disputed region populated mainly by ethnic Armenians.
“As of 22:00 (1800 GMT), 1050 people entered Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh,” the Armenian government said on Sunday.
Eyewitnesses at the border told the Reuters news agency that Nagorno-Karabakh residents with access to cars and fuel were leaving the region in large numbers. After decades of conflict, local Armenians fear expulsion or revenge from authoritarian Azerbaijan.
“Families who are homeless after the recent military operation and who want to leave the republic will be taken to Armenia,” the Armenian leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh’s capital Stepanakert said on Sunday.
Wounded make their way to Armenia
Meanwhile, an ambulance convoy carrying 23 wounded Armenian soldiers made its way from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. It was accompanied by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Armenian Health Ministry said.
Last Tuesday, Azerbaijan launched a military operation to seize Nagorno-Karabakh. Within a day,
According to Armenian sources, more than 200 people died during the brief fighting and more than 400 others were injured. Azerbaijan promised to allow the wounded to leave the region and go to Armenia.
Armenia urges UN to monitor human rights in Nagorno-Karabakh
Armenia on Saturday called for to monitor human rights and ensure the safety of ethnic Armenians in the region.
“The international community should undertake all the efforts for an immediate deployment of an interagency mission by the UN to Nagorno-Karabakh with the aim to monitor and assess the human rights, humanitarian and security situation on the ground,” Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said in a speech to UN delegates in New York.
Azerbaijan has said it is committed to protecting the rights of ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, however there are fears of persecution among the civilian population left behind in the breakaway region.
dh/kb (AFP, dpa, Reuters)
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