The dispatch of a UN humanitarian mission to Nagorno-Karabakh made it possible to show images of the enclave, emptied of its Armenian inhabitants, after Azerbaijan’s lightning offensive.
A ghost town: on the images filmed by the Al-Jazeera channel, the only media to have penetrated the city of Stepanakert, which is now deserted, we see the city center completely emptied of its inhabitants. Not a single soul in the central square, a few cars with open doors that seem to be waiting for their owners. On the ground, things are spread out: chairs, papers, strollers.
The channel’s special correspondent says this: “Here, if I keep quiet, you won’t hear anything. There’s no one left, apart from a few elderly or disabled people who couldn’t leave.“Only a few dogs roam among all the belongings left there by the population who fled the scene.
>> “Now, everything is lost”: in Armenia, refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh are trying to rebuild their lives
Striking images which prove that the inhabitants fled extremely quickly, leaving absolutely everything behind them, including the numerous strollers abandoned on this square, the packages of diapers, the toys… Just a few days ago, we could see in the same place thousands of people gather. The city of Stepanakert, at the entrance to the famous Lachine corridor which leads to Armenia, had 51,000 inhabitants: today, only civil servants, emergency workers and people with special needs have decided to stay there.
Azerbaijan denies ‘ethnic cleansing’ accusations
These impressive images are the direct consequence of the spectacular dissolution of the self-proclaimed separatist republic which managed the region. The UN announced the sending of a mission this weekend to mainly assess humanitarian needs, even though the organization had not had access to this region. “for about 30 years”. 100,000 refugees – out of the 120,000 Armenian inhabitants – fled the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, for fear of the Azerbaijani authorities.
In Nagorno-Karabakh’s main city, Stepanakert, a few people are still there, temporarily: hundreds of civil servants, emergency workers at the hospital, people with special needs. But also the leader of the region: the latter said he would stay until the end of the relief operations for the victims. .
>> GREAT MAINTENANCE. Nagorno-Karabakh: “It is clear that this is ethnic cleansing”, denounces the ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to France
The enclave is now under the control of Azerbaijani forces. A “migration” service has been set up to register the remaining inhabitants and ensure “their lasting reintegration into Azerbaijani society“But the massive flight was almost inevitable: the Armenian inhabitants had been living in fear for several weeks, despite the promises of Azerbaijan, which refutes any accusation of “ethnic cleansing” in the region and assures the inhabitants of the enclave that they are free to leave or stay. But all weekend, Baku carried out a series of illegal arrests in the enclave, reinforcing the refugees’ fears.