After Azerbaijan’s defeat of the breakaway area of Nogormo-Karabakh, Armenians in the region are fleeing to Armenia.

Reuters, September 24, 2023

Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenians start to leave en masse for Armenia

STEPANAKERT, Azerbaijan, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh began a mass exodus by car on Sunday toward Armenia after Azerbaijan defeated the breakaway region’s fighters in a conflict dating from the Soviet era.

The Nagorno-Karabakh leadership told Reuters the region’s 120,000 Armenians did not want to live as part of Azerbaijan for fear of persecution and ethnic cleansing.

Those with fuel had started to drive down the Lachin corridor toward the border with Armenia, according to a Reuters reporter in the Karabakh capital known as Stepanakert by Armenia and Khankendi by Azerbaijan.

An Armenian government statement said 1,050 people had crossed into Armenia from Nagorno-Karabkah as of 10 p.m. (1800 GMT) on Sunday.

Reuters pictures showed dozens of cars driving out of the capital toward the corridor’s mountainous curves.

The Armenians of Karabakh, a territory internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but previously beyond its control, were forced into a ceasefire last week after a 24-hour military operation by the much-larger Azerbaijani military.

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