Flight of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians

Flight of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians
Top: Displaced ethnic Armenians boarding buses in Nagorno-Karabakh
Bottom: Explosion at a fuel-distribution center amidst the evacuation
Date24 September 2023 – 3 October 2023
(1 week and 2 days)
LocationNagorno-Karabakh
Cause2023 Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh
Deaths218 from the Berkadzor fuel depot explosion
70 en route to Armenia
DisplacedOver 100,617 (99% of population) as of 3 October 2023[1][2][3][4][5]

On 19–20 September 2023 Azerbaijan initiated a military offensive in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region which ended with the surrender of the self-declared Republic of Artsakh and the disbandment of its armed forces. Up until the military assault, the region was internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but governed and populated by ethnic Armenians.

Before the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020, the region had an estimated population of 150,000 which decreased in the aftermath of the war.[6] Faced with threats of ethnic cleansing by Azerbaijan and struggling amid a nine-month long blockade, 100,400 ethnic Armenians, representing 99% of the remaining population of Nagorno-Karabakh,[7][8][9] fled by the end of September 2023,[2][3] leaving only a couple of dozen people within the region as of November.[10]

This mass displacement of people has been described by international experts as a war crime or crime against humanity.[11] 218 civilians died during an explosion at a fuel distribution center, and 70 civilians died en route while fleeing to Armenia.[12][13][14][15] While the Azerbaijani government issued assurances that the Armenian population would be safely reintegrated,[16] these claims were not deemed credible due to Azerbaijan's established track record of authoritarianism and repression of its Armenian population.[17][18][19]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Arm was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b "As Ethnic Armenian Exodus Tops 100,000, UN Readies For Nagorno-Karabakh Visit". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 30 September 2023. Archived from the original on 30 September 2023. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  3. ^ a b "More than 80% of Nagorno-Karabakh's population flees as future uncertain for those who remain". The Canadian Press. Yahoo! Finance. 29 September 2023. Archived from the original on 30 September 2023. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
  4. ^ "More than 70% of Nagorno-Karabakh's population flees as separatist government says it will dissolve". Washington Post. 29 September 2023. Archived from the original on 30 September 2023. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
  5. ^ Demourian, Avet (2 October 2023). "Armenian exodus from Nagorno-Karabakh ebbs as Azerbaijan moves to reaffirm control". New York: Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2 October 2023. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  6. ^ Shahverdyan, Lilit (25 July 2022). "Birth and marriage rates increase in Nagorno-Karabakh". Eurasianet.
  7. ^ "Guarantee Right to Return to Nagorno Karabakh | Human Rights Watch". 5 October 2023. Archived from the original on 5 October 2023. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
  8. ^ "UN Reports Between 50-1,000 Armenians Remain Within Artsakh, 99% of Population Gone | Atlas News". 4 October 2023. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  9. ^ "Statement on the Sentencing of Vagif Khachatryan in the Republic of Azerbaijan". Lemkin Institute. Retrieved 12 February 2024. Azerbaijan's military aggression against Artsakh on 19 September 2023, which resulted in massacre and atrocity and the consequent flight of almost 100 percent of its indigenous Armenian population to neighboring Armenia. The aggression, atrocity and forced displacement amount to a very thorough genocide of an ancient, continuous indigenous civilization.
  10. ^ Ռ/Կ, «Ազատություն» (15 November 2023). "U.S. Says Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians Entitled To Return Home". «Ազատ Եվրոպա/Ազատություն» ռադիոկայան (in Armenian). Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference Coercion was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Shahverdyan, Lilit (15 January 2024). "Russia rejects criticism of peacekeepers in Karabakh". Eurasianet.
  13. ^ "Observations on the Human Rights Situation of People affected by the Conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Karabakh region". Council of Europe: Commissioner for Human Rights. 12 January 2024. The Commissioner was also informed that some people reportedly died from health complications during the displacement to Armenia
  14. ^ "'Which Future Do We Have?': Stories from Refugees in Armenia - Armenia | ReliefWeb". reliefweb.int. 22 November 2023. Retrieved 10 February 2024. After three days in the car with very little food or water—or, in some cases, hours of walking miles and miles—many grew malnourished or fell ill. Some of the most vulnerable or eldest of the group died along the way.
  15. ^ "At Least 223 Artsakh Armenians Killed During Azerbaijan's Offensive in September – Asbarez.com". 5 January 2024. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
  16. ^ "Azerbaijan says it does not want exodus from Nagorno-Karabakh, urges Armenians to stay". Reuters. 28 September 2023. Archived from the original on 28 September 2023. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
  17. ^ Seferian, Nareg (27 September 2023). "Azerbaijan's use of force in Nagorno-Karabakh risks undermining key international norms, signaling to dictators that might makes right". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 28 September 2023. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
  18. ^ "Nagorno-Karabakh: More than 40,000 refugees flee to Armenia". BBC News. 26 September 2023. Archived from the original on 27 September 2023. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
  19. ^ "Karabakh blockade reaches critical point as food supplies run low". www.intellinews.com. 31 July 2023. Retrieved 10 February 2024. With Azerbaijan now starving the 120,000 people it claims are its citizens, many observers now agree that the idea that Karabakh Armenians can live safely in Ilham Aliyev's Azerbaijan is hardly credible. "The blockade renders irrelevant any talk of the civil integration of Karabakh Armenians," wrote Laurence Broers, Caucasus programme director at Conciliation Resources. "It vindicates the worst fears of the Karabakh Armenian population vis-a-vis the Azerbaijani state… [and] will leave a new legacy of unforgiving distrust cancelling any hopes of reconstituting community relations," Broers said.