The first group of Nagorno-Karabakh refugees since Azerbaijan’s lightning assault against the separatist region yesterday entered Armenia, reporters at the border said.
The group of a few dozen people passed by Azerbaijani border guards before entering the Armenian village of Kornidzor, where they were registered by officials from the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The group was primarily comprised of women, children and the elderly.
Photo: Reuters
Some said that they came from the border-area village of Eghtsahogh, while others said they traveled longer distances.
The separatists earlier yesterday said that civilians left homeless by the latest violence would be transferred to Armenia with the help of Russian peacekeepers, who have been in the region since a 2020 six-week war.
One man said that he had been part of the separatist resistance until Azerbaijan’s offensive forced the rebels on Wednesday to agree to disarm.
“Our families were in shelters,” said the man, who was in his 30s and came from the village of Mets Shen but did not give his name.
“Yesterday, we had to put down our rifles. So we left,” he said.
Azerbaijan has pledges to allow rebel fighters who lay down their arms to leave along the so-called Lachin Corridor to Armenia.
The Azerbaijani Ministry of the Interior yesterday said that it would arrange buses for former fighters, adding that some could also leave by car.
The separatists and Baku officials had an initial round of “reintegration” talks on Thursday that ended with an agreement to meet again soon.
The separatists’ apparent capitulation could mark the end of a conflict between the Christian and Muslim Caucasus rivals that has raged — off and on — through the three decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
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