Almost all ethnic Armenians flee Nagorno-Karabakh
economictimes.indiatimes.comNagorno-Karabakh dwindled to a trickle Saturday as Armenia said nearly the entire population of the breakaway territory had already fled after Azerbaijan seized back control.
An AFP journalist at the Kornidzor crossing into Armenia saw only several ambulances arrive as border guards said they were waiting for a final few buses.
In the nearest town of Goris, hundreds of exhausted refugees waited amongst their baggage in the central square for the government to offer accommodation.
Azerbaijan's lightning military takeover of the ethnic Armenian enclave last week sparked a sudden exodus that has rewritten the centuries-old ethnic makeup of the disputed region.
Armenia said Saturday 100,417 people from an estimated population of 120,000 had fled since the breakaway region saw its decades-long fight against Azerbaijani rule end in sudden defeat.
Artak Beglaryan, a former separatist official, said that according to unofficial information «the last groups» of Nagorno-Karabakh residents were on their way to Armenia Saturday.
«At most a few hundred persons remain, most of whom are officials, emergency services employees, volunteers, some persons with special needs,» he wrote on social media.
Yerevan has accused Azerbaijan of conducting a campaign of «ethnic cleansing» to clear Nagorno-Karabakh of its Armenian population.
But Baku has denied the claim and has publicly called on the Armenian residents of the territory to stay and «reintegrate» into Azerbaijan.
The United Nations has said it will send a mission to Nagorno-Karabakh this weekend, mainly to assess humanitarian needs, the first time the international body has had access to the region in about 30 years.
France lashed out at Azerbaijan for only allowing the
