Almost 3,000 Armenians who were displaced by the recent Azerbaijani military operation in Nagorno Karabakh they came to Armenia since its evacuation began on Sunday, the Prime Minister’s Government reported this Monday, Nikol Pashinian.
In total, as of 02:00 GMT this Monday, 2,906 people forcibly displaced to Armenia from Nagorno Karabakh arrived, the Executive indicated in a statement.
Of this total, 2,100 have already been registered and of these, almost a thousand decided to go to their own places of residence or that of relatives, while another 1,100 are staying for now in a humanitarian center created in the town of Kornidzoron the border with Azerbaijan and about 150 kilometers from Nagorno Karabakh.
The day before the authorities of the self-proclaimed republic of Nagorno Karabakh announced that those citizens who were evacuated by last week’s Azerbaijani military operation, left homeless and who were sheltered near the facilities of Russian peacekeepers deployed in the territory since autumn 2020 could be transported to Armenia if they so desired.
In total, 30 buses were organized after Baku assured that it would let them pass with the help of Russian peacekeepers.
The rest of the citizens who wish to leave Nagorno Karabakh after Azerbaijan announces that it will reintegrate the area into its administrative scheme, will be able to do so after the transfer of the displaced is completed, the Information Center of the self-proclaimed republic said on Sunday.
In addition, Azerbaijan opened two roads so that Karabakh soldiers who had to surrender and lay down their weapons as a result of the ceasefire reached last Wednesday can be transported to Armenia, according to the Azeri Ministry of the Interior.
The first 40 displaced people arrived in Armenia on Saturday through the Lachin corridor, crossing the Hakari bridge, a transfer that the Azeri forces that control the area have allowed. The step was carried out without registration or any control. The displaced people were subsequently registered at the humanitarian center set up in Kornidzor.
A man interviewed by the agency AFP in Kornidzor he claimed to be part of the “resistance” until Azerbaijan’s offensive forced the rebels to capitulate on Wednesday.
“Our families were in the shelters. We were in the army, but yesterday we had to give up our rifles. So we left,” said this man in his thirties who was waiting with others to be registered at the reception center.
Others were waiting for news from their loved ones. “My son was in the army. He is alive but he worries me,” declared one man.
Its disarmament began on Friday and its transfer takes place through the Lachin corridor, the only communication route between Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh and which was blocked for nine months by Azerbaijan, and through Kelbajar.
(With information from EFE)
Source-www.infobae.com