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Flight of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians

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Flight of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians
Ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh seeking refuge due to attacks by Azerbaijani forces (21 September 2023)
Date24 September 2023 – present
(1 year, 2 months and 6 days)
LocationNagorno-Karabakh
Cause2023 Nagorno-Karabakh clashes
Displaced53,629 as of 27 September 2023[1]

In September 2023, a military offensive was launched by Azerbaijan and forced the capitulation of the Nagorno-Karabakh government and the dismantling of its armed forces. Prior to the offensive the population of the breakaway region was 120,000, but the looming takeover by Azerbaijan and fears of genocide and ethnic cleansing resulted in over 65,000 having fled by the morning of September 28.[2][3][4]

Background

Main articles: Blockade of the Republic of Artsakh (2022–present) and 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is an ethnic and territorial conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is inhabited mostly by ethnic Armenians.[5] The Nagorno-Karabakh region is entirely claimed by and partially de facto controlled by the breakaway Republic of Artsakh but is recognized internationally as part of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan de facto controls one-third of the Nagorno-Karabakh region as well as the seven surrounding districts. The conflict escalated in 1988, when the Karabakh Armenians demanded the transfer of the region from Soviet Azerbaijan to Soviet Armenia, triggering the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. In late 2020, the large-scale Second Nagorno-Karabakh War resulted in thousands of casualties and a significant Azerbaijani victory. An armistice was established by a tripartite ceasefire agreement on 10 November, resulting in Armenia and Artsakh losing the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh as well as one-third of Nagorno-Karabakh itself.[6] Ceasefire violations in Nagorno-Karabakh and on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border have continued following the 2020 war, with intermittent but ongoing casualties.

Since December 2022, Azerbaijan has blockaded the Republic of Artsakh from the outside world, in violation of the 2020 ceasefire agreement and international legal rulings.[7] The Azerbaijani government seized territory around the Lachin corridor both within Artsakh and Armenia, blocked alternative bypass routes, and installed a military checkpoint.[8] Azerbaijan has also sabotaged critical civilian infrastructure of Artsakh, including gas, electricity, and Internet access.[9][10] Numerous countries, international organizations, and human rights observers have condemned Azerbaijan's blockade and consider it to be a form of hybrid warfare,[11][12] ethnic cleansing,[13] and genocide.[14][15]

On 19 September 2023, in violation of the 2020 ceasefire conditions,[16][17] Azerbaijan launched a large-scale offensive against Republic of Artsakh. During the 24 hour attack, hundreds died on both sides, as well as 5 Russian peacekeepers. After the government of the Republic of Artsakh agreed to a capitulation, Azerbaijan opened the road to Armenia following a few days of negotiations. This decision allowed those who wished to depart to do so. Consequently, a significant number of Armenians began leaving the region from September 24 onwards.

Flight

On 24 September, the first group of refugees reached Armenia through the Kornidzor border post,[18][19][20] with 1,050 refugees arriving that day according to the Armenian government.[21] As news of the ability to leave spread, there was a flood of people fleeing, with the number of people reaching Armenia hitting over 65,000 by September 28, which constitutes over half of Nagorno-Karabakh's population.[1][22][23] Also on September 27, reports emerged that Ruben Vardanyan, a former high-level government official in Artsakh and wealthy businessman was arrested by Azerbaijan as he was about to enter Armenia[24].

After months with limited to no availability of fuel, a delivery of fuel made it possible for people to fill some of their cars with fuel for the drive to Armenia. The lines were very long at one fuel station by Stepanakert, when a 50 ton underground fuel tank exploded, killing 68 people and injuring hundreds[25].

Reports say that the road from Stepanakert to Armenia has been clogged for days, with people sleeping in their cars overnight due to the traffic jam on the way out[26]. The normally 2 hour drive was taking 30 hours for people to navigate[27].

The exodus has been described as an ethnic cleansing by the prime minister of Armenia.[28]

International response

In response to the humanitarian crisis a number of countries pledged aid to help Armenian refugees, including Iran[29] and the EU with a pledged of €5m[30]. The chief of USAID Samantha Power arrived in Armenia together with US State Department Acting Assistant Secretary for Europe and Eurasian Affairs Yuri Kim to visit the affected people and pledged $11.5m in humanitarian assistance. Power said that "many of those who had arrived were suffering from 'severe malnutrition,' according to doctors at the scene"[31].

References

  1. ^ a b "Nagorno-Karabakh: 50,000 people flee to Armenia along 100 miles of winding road after Azerbaijan military offensive". Sky News. Archived from the original on 27 September 2023. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
  2. ^ Ebel, Francesca (27 September 2023). "Exodus from Nagorno-Karabakh accelerates; Azerbaijan arrests former leader". Washington Post. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
  3. ^ "Armenians begin leaving Azerbaijan en masse after 'iron fist' ends Soviet-era civil conflict". ABC News. 25 September 2023. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
  4. ^ https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1120698.html
  5. ^ Trevelyan, Mark (20 September 2023). "Explainer: Nagorno-Karabakh: tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan explained". Reuters. Archived from the original on 23 September 2023. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  6. ^ "Armenia and Azerbaijan: A blockade that never ended and a peace deal hanging by a thread". Global Voices. 19 July 2023. Archived from the original on 27 July 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  7. ^ "Азербайджанские "активисты" блокируют дорогу из Карабаха в Армению. Одновременно в Карабахе пропал газ" [Azerbaijani "activists" are blocking the road from Karabakh to Armenia. At the same time, gas disappeared in Karabakh]. BBC News Русская Служба (in Russian). Archived from the original on 12 April 2023. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
  8. ^ "Treading a Tightrope on the Armenian Border: Reviewing the First Two Months of the EU's New Mission in the South Caucasus". Caucasus Watch. 25 April 2023. Archived from the original on 5 August 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023. The following week saw a reconfiguration of road links and military positions in the Lachin Corridor, with Azerbaijani forces constructing a new military post, taking control of strategic heights, ignoring Russian calls to return to their original locations, and seizing land in Armenia around the new road leading from the villages of Tegh and Kornidzor towards Karabakh.
  9. ^ "Ensuring free and safe access through the Lachin Corridor". Council of Europe – Parliamentary Assembly. 20 June 2023. p. Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons. PDF. Archived from the original on 19 July 2023. Retrieved 19 September 2023. [the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe]...is extremely worried by events...which culminated on 12 December 2022 with the interruption of the free and safe passage through the Lachin corridor and the subsequent deliberate cutting of electricity and gas supplies to the region... [The Assembly]...urges Azerbaijan to restore electricity and gas supplies without delay or impediment.
  10. ^ Marques, Pedro; Kaljurand, Marina; Santos, Isabel; Hajšel, Robert; Incir, Evin; Loiseau, Nathalie; Auštrevičius, Petras; Bilbao Barandica, Izaskun; Charanzová, Dita; Chastel, Olivier; Cseh, Katalin; Gheorghe, Vlad; Grošelj, Klemen; Guetta, Bernard; Hahn, Svenja; Karlsbro, Karin; Melchior, Karen; Nart, Javier; Paet, Urmas; Ries, Frédérique; Šimečka, Michal; Ştefănuță, Nicolae; Strugariu, Ramona; Vautmans, Hilde; von Cramon‑Taubadel, Viola; Weimers, Charlie; Fragkos, Emmanouil; Kruk, Elżbieta; Dzhambazki, Angel; Zalewska, Anna; Brudziński, Joachim Stanisław; Kanko, Assita; Jurzyca, Eugen; Bielan, Adam; Fidanza, Carlo; Ruissen, Bert‑Jan; Kouloglou, Stelios; Castaldo, Fabio Massimo. "JOINT MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on the humanitarian consequences of the blockade in Nagorno-Karabakh | RC-B9-0075/2023 | European Parliament". www.europarl.europa.eu. Archived from the original on 21 January 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023. whereas this humanitarian crisis was further aggravated by Azerbaijan's disruption of the natural gas supply to Nagorno-Karabakh, which left houses, hospitals and schools without heating...[the European Parliament]...urges Azerbaijan to refrain from undermining the functioning of transport, energy and communication connections between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh in future.
  11. ^ "Azerbaijan Blockades Nagorno-Karabakh Region, Angering Armenia & Raising Specter of a New War". Democracy Now!. Archived from the original on 6 June 2023. Retrieved 11 August 2023. ... Russia is not opposed to allowing Azerbaijan use a hybrid warfare strategy such as this one, which is blockading the only corridor that's a lifeline to, quite basically, eventually pressure Armenia into an actual peace deal, into concessions ...
  12. ^ Green, Anna (20 December 2022). "Weaponizing Blockade With the Intent to Ethnically Cleanse". EVN Report. Archived from the original on 25 August 2023. Retrieved 11 August 2023. By utilizing pseudo eco-protesters instead of military movements by Azerbaijani forces, as was the previous strategy, and causing a humanitarian crisis accompanied with false narratives and disinformation, Azerbaijan is employing hybrid warfare tactics against the Armenians. This operation is pursuing short-, mid- and long-term objectives.
  13. ^ Johnson, Josiah (10 August 2023). "Is Nagorno-Karabakh the New Darfur?". American Enterprise Institute – AEI. Archived from the original on 20 September 2023. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
  14. ^ Ochab, Dr Ewelina U. "Lachin Corridor Blockade Starves Nagorno-Karabakh". Forbes. Archived from the original on 10 August 2023. Retrieved 9 August 2023. Luis Moreno Ocampo, the founding Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, argues that "there is a reasonable basis to believe that a genocide is being committed against Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023," adding that it "should be considered a genocide under Article II (c) of the [UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide] (Genocide Convention): 'Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction.'" Ocampo further added that "There are no crematories, and there are no machete attacks. Starvation is the invisible genocide weapon. Without immediate dramatic change, this group of Armenians will be destroyed in a few weeks."
  15. ^ "Top International Lawyer Calls Azerbaijani Blockade Of Nagorno-Karabakh Genocide". Radio Free Europe (in Armenian). 9 August 2023. Archived from the original on 11 August 2023. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
  16. ^ "Armenia, Azerbaijan: Baku Launches Military Operation In Nagorno-Karabakh". Stratfor. 19 September 2023. Archived from the original on 19 September 2023. Retrieved 22 September 2023. ...the Russian peacekeeping contingent is incapable of preventing Azerbaijan's seizure of the region, despite this being a clear violation of the November 2020 ceasefire brokered by Russia that ended the last war.
  17. ^ "Joint statement on Azerbaijan's attack on Nagorno-Karabakh | Communiqués | Documents | DSCA | Delegations | European Parliament". www.europarl.europa.eu. Archived from the original on 22 September 2023. Retrieved 21 September 2023. We condemn in the strongest terms today's pre-planned and unjustified attack of Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh...We recall that the attack takes place in the context of a major humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh, following Azerbaijan's blockade of the Lachin Corridor for the past nine months, in violation of Baku's commitments under the ceasefire statement of 9 November 2020 and of the legally binding orders of the International Court of Justice. Humanitarian access to Nagorno-Karabakh needs to be fully and permanently restored.
  18. ^ Light, Felix (23 September 2023). "Karabakh Armenians say ceasefire being implemented, aid is arriving". Reuters. Archived from the original on 23 September 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  19. ^ Roth, Andrew (24 September 2023). "First evacuees from Nagorno-Karabakh cross into Armenia". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 24 September 2023. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
  20. ^ "First group of refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh arrives in Armenia". France 24. 24 September 2023. Archived from the original on 24 September 2023. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
  21. ^ "Hundreds of ethnic Armenians flee Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia". Aljazeera. 24 September 2023. Archived from the original on 24 September 2023. Retrieved 25 September 2023.
  22. ^ "Armenia reports the arrival of 42,500 refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh". Euronews. 27 September 2023. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
  23. ^ https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1120698.html
  24. ^ https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/27/europe/nagorno-karabakh-exodus-armenia-explainer-intl/index.html
  25. ^ https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255487/explosion-kills-68-armenian-refugees-as-thousands-flee-nagorno-karabakh
  26. ^ https://www.dw.com/en/nagorno-karabakh-nearly-half-of-ethnic-armenians-flee/live-66934664
  27. ^ https://www.dw.com/en/nagorno-karabakh-nearly-half-of-ethnic-armenians-flee/live-66934664
  28. ^ "Nagorno-Karabakh: Thousands flee as Armenia says ethnic cleansing under way". BBC. 26 September 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  29. ^ https://news.am/eng/news/783660.html
  30. ^ https://en.armradio.am/?p=177219
  31. ^ https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/26/europe/us-envoy-support-nagorno-karabakh-intl/index.html


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