NEAR KORNIDZOR, Armenia, Sept 23 (Reuters) – Russia declared that Armenian fighters in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh had begun to lay down their weapons as humanitarian aid arrived for the area’s 120,000 Armenians, who say the world has abandoned after the defeat of its forces by Azerbaijan.
Armenians in Karabakh, internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, were forced to declare a ceasefire on September 20 following a 24-hour lightning military operation by the much larger Azerbaijani military.
“Armed formations in Karabakh have begun to deliver weapons and military equipment under the control of Russian peacekeepers,” said Russia, which has about 2,000 peacekeepers in Karabakh.
The Russian Defense Ministry stated that the fighters had so far delivered six armored vehicles, more than 800 guns and about 5,000 units of ammunition.
Russia declared having delivered more than 50 tons of food and other aid.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it had supplied 28,000 diapers, as well as blankets and fuel. An ICRC aid convoy arrived at the border heading towards Karabakh late on Saturday afternoon, according to a Reuters witness, the first since Azerbaijan retook the region.
The future of Karabakh and its 120,000 ethnic Armenian residents now hangs in the balance: Azerbaijan wants to integrate the long-disputed region, but ethnic Armenian residents say they fear persecution and have accused the world of abandoning them.
Armenians in Karabakh told Reuters they were virtually besieged in the region, with little food, electricity or fuel, and asked major powers for help.
Azerbaijan plans an amnesty for Karabakh Armenian fighters who lay down their arms and has said that Armenians can leave the region for Armenia if they wish.
Armenia, which lost a war in 2020 against Azerbaijan over the region, has made space for tens of thousands of Karabakh Armenians, although Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan says he does not want them to leave their homes unless absolutely necessary.
Democratic US Senator Gary Peters, leading a congressional delegation that visited the Armenia-Azerbaijan border on Saturday, said the situation requires international observers and transparency on the part of Azerbaijan.
“I think the world needs to know exactly what’s going on there,” Peters told reporters. “We have heard the Azerbaijani government say that there is nothing to see, nothing to worry about, but if that is the case, then we should allow international observers in.”
“I think there has to be some visibility,” he said.
“ABANDONED”
Azerbaijan began its “anti-terrorist” operation against Nagorno-Karabakh on Tuesday after some of its troops were killed in what Baku said were attacks from the mountainous region.
The United States declared itself deeply concerned about “Azerbaijan’s military actions.”
The accounts of the combats were chilling.
Armenui Karapetyan, an Armenian from Karabakh, said he was now homeless, with only a few possessions and a photograph of his 24-year-old son who died in 2020, after leaving his home in the village of Kusapat.
“Today they have thrown us out on the streets, they have turned us into vagrants,” Karapetyan told Reuters contributor Armenia A1+.
“What can I say? We live in an unjust and abandoned world. I have nothing to say. I am sorry for the blood of our boys. I am sorry for our lands, for which our boys sacrificed their lives, and today (… ) I miss my son’s grave.”
Thousands of Karabakh Armenians have gathered at the airport seeking protection from Russian peacekeepers there.
Svetlana Alaverdyan, from the village of Arajadzor, said she had fled with only the clothes on her back after gunfire engulfed the village.
“They were shooting on the right, they were shooting on the left: we came out one after the other, without clothes,” he told Armenia A1+. “I had two children: I gave them away, what more can I give? The superpowers solve their problems at our expense.” (Written by Guy Faulconbridge and Alex Marrow; Edited in Spanish by Ricardo Figueroa)
Source: Ambito
