Nearly 5,000 refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh have so far arrived in Armenia, while Turkish head of state Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country plays a major role in this part of the Caucasus, arrived in Azerbaijan on Monday to meet its president Ilham Aliev.
The interviews are to take place in Nakhchivan, a small strip of land bordering Turkey nestled between Armenia and Iran and attached to Azerbaijan in the early 1920s, but without territorial continuity with the rest of this country. The two men must also inaugurate a new gas pipeline and an Azerbaijani military complex.
A Turkish demonstration of force contrasting with Russia’s apparent withdrawal from the region, even if the latter firmly rejected on Monday the criticism of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian who implicitly reproached him the day before on television for his lack of support.
And this after the victory in less than 24 hours on Wednesday of the Azerbaijani army against the troops of the self-proclaimed “republic” of Nagorno-Karabakh, a region mainly populated by Armenians attached to Azerbaijan in 1921 by Soviet power.
“We are categorically against attempts to place responsibility on the Russian side and the Russian peacekeeping forces (in this territory, Editor’s note), who demonstrate heroism,” the Kremlin spokesperson insisted on Monday. , Dmitri Peskov, rejecting any “reproach” for supposed failings.
At the same time, representatives of Azerbaijan were participating in a second round of peace talks, after those on Thursday, with the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, with a view to “reintegrating” this community, Azerbaijani state media reported.
Influx of refugees
Also on Monday, the influx of refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh onto Armenian soil continues, with huge traffic jams reported on the only road linking its “capital” Stepanakert to Armenia.
“As of midday on September 25, 4,850 forcibly displaced people entered Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh,” the Armenian government announced.
The first arrivals of residents of this enclave since the defeat of the separatist fighters took place on Sunday at the Armenian border post of Kornidzor.
In the town of Goris, further west, the humanitarian center installed in the premises of the municipal theater has been full since Sunday evening, noted an AFP journalist.
All night, refugees followed one another to register, find accommodation or transport to other regions of Armenia.
Anabel Ghoulassian, 41, from the village of Rev (Chalva in Azeri), has just arrived by minibus in Goris with five of her seven children – the other two are in Yerevan, the Armenian capital – and her husband.
At the start of the fighting last week, they all sought protection in the Russian base at Stepanakert airport. But they were kicked out after the first night and then lived in an abandoned building with no roof.
“Those were horrible days, we were just sitting next to each other. Rich or poor, all in the same place,” she said.
” Nowhere to go “
Valentina Asrian, 54, who lived in the town of Vank, showed up with her grandchildren, including the youngest born who she is holding in her arms. “Who would have thought that the Turks (the name given to the Azeris by the local population, Editor’s note) would enter this historic Armenian village…” she says.
“They bombed the village, there were injuries, my sister’s husband was killed,” adds Valentina, before confiding: “I have no relatives here, nowhere to go.”
Nagorno-Karabakh authorities said on Sunday that civilians left without housing due to the latest violence would be transferred to Armenia with the help of Russian peacekeepers, present there since the previous war in autumn 2020 (another much more deadly one took place from 1988 to 1994).
Azerbaijan, for its part, has undertaken to allow rebels who surrender their weapons to go to Armenia.
Many fear that Armenians will flee en masse from Nagorno-Karabakh as Azerbaijani forces tighten their grip.
Because in addition to the anxiety that reigns among the approximately 120,000 inhabitants of Nagorno-Karabakh, the humanitarian situation remains very tense.
“I want to return to Karabakh”
On the Azerbaijani side, in localities close to Nagorno-Karabakh, such as Terter and Beylagan, many of those who had to leave this region in the past want to reside there again.
“Of course, I want to return to Karabakh, we are tired of the war and the fear,” says Nazakat Valieva, 49, a former worker who lost her husband during the conflict.
For Azad Abbassov, a school teacher, Armenians and Azeris could live side by side, “we must eliminate the seeds of animosity between us.”
“If the Armenians leave Karabakh, it doesn’t matter, if they stay, it’s very good for them if they accept our citizenship,” comments Chemil Valiev, a 40-year-old trader in Ganja, the second largest city. large city of Azerbaijan, in the presence of an AFP journalist.
He is about to board a bus covered with a large poster showing the youthful face of an Azerbaijani man in uniform, killed in combat during the 2020 war.
Losses which continue to increase since Azerbaijan deplored on Monday the death of two of its soldiers the day before in the explosion of a mine, while, according to the Armenians, 200 people died in the clashes last week .