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Armenian separatists say more than 200 people were killed in the 24-hour fighting that saw Azerbaijan regain control of Nagorno-Karabakh, while an explosion at a fuel depot killed at least 170 civilians queuing to fill up their cars before fleeing to Armenia.
After a blitzkrieg by Azerbaijan in the second half of September, Armenian separatists who had controlled the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave for 30 years agreed to lay down their arms and dissolve their government.
The separatist authorities have announced that the president of the self-proclaimed republic, Samvel Shahramanyan, along with a group of other officials, will remain in Nagorno-Karabakh’s capital, Stepanakert, until a “search and rescue operation” for the dead and missing is completed.
“The government continues to focus on the issue of citizens who want to move to the Republic of Armenia,” the separatist government said in a statement.
The representative of the separatists, Artak Beglaryan, informed that “several hundreds” of Armenian officials, rescue service workers, volunteers and “persons with special needs” remained in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Most of the Armenian enclaves have already left. An estimated 120,000 Armenians lived in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2021, and on Monday, Yerevan announced that 100,514 people had already arrived in Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh.
2023-10-02 18:38:00
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