More than half of Nagorno-Karabakh’s population now in Armenia

Tbilisi, Sep 28 (EFE).- More than half of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh, an Azeri territory populated by Armenians, has moved to Armenia since Sunday after Azerbaijan launched a military operation there on Sep. 19, Yerevan reported Thursday.

“At 0400 GMT, 65,036 forcibly displaced people from Nagorno-Karabakh had arrived in Armenia,” said Nazeli Baghdasarian, spokesperson for Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, on his official Facebook account.

Armenia said that in 24 hours, the number of Armenians who have left Karabakh for Armenia increased by more than 22,000.

According to the Armenian Executive, the majority of displaced people have housing in Armenia or relatives who host them.

The rest are placed in hostels, hotels, reception centers and other buildings in the city of Goris, which is located near the border with Azerbaijan.

Images from Armenian television show long queues of cars on the road leading to the humanitarian center in the small border town of Kornidzor.

Azeri security services detained two former senior Nagorno-Karabakh officials Wednesday at the border.

When they were trying to leave for Armenia, former State Minister Ruben Vardianian and former Security Council Head Vitali Balasanian were captured.

The exodus of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh continues despite Azeri President Ilham Aliev promising to respect the rights of the population of the enclave.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has denounced that an “ethnic cleansing” of the territory is taking place. EFE

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