The last bus carrying ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh has left the region, completing a gruelling week-long exodus of more than 100,000 people – over 80pc of its residents – after Azerbaijan reclaimed the area in a lightning military operation.
The bus carried 15 passengers with serious illnesses and mobility problems, said Gegham Stepanyan, Nagorno-Karabakh’s human rights ombudsman. He called for information about any other residents who want to leave but have had trouble doing so.
In a 24-hour military campaign that began on September 19, the Azerbaijani army routed the region’s undermanned and outgunned Armenian forces, forcing them to capitulate. Separatist authorities then agreed to dissolve their government by the end of this year.
Azerbaijan Interior Ministry spokesman Elshad Hajiyev said on Monday that the country’s police have established control over the region.
“Work is conducted to enforce law and order in the entire Karabakh region,” he said, adding that Azerbaijani police have moved to “protect the rights and ensure security of the Armenian population in accordance with Azerbaijan’s law”.
While Azerbaijan has pledged to respect the rights of ethnic Armenians, most of them fled the region, fearing reprisals or losing the freedom to use their language and practise their religion and customs. The Armenian government said on Monday that 100,514 of the region’s estimated 120,000 residents have crossed into Armenia.
Health minister Anahit Avanesyan said some people died during the journey over the mountain road into Armenia which took as long as 40 hours. The exodus followed a nine-month Azerbaijani blockade of the region that left many suffering from malnutrition and lack of medicines.
Sergey Astsetryan (40), one of the last Nagorno-Karabakh residents to leave in his own vehicle on Sunday, said some elderly people have decided to stay, adding that others might return if they see it is safe for ethnic Armenians under Azerbaijani rule.
“My father told me that he will return when he has the opportunity,” Mr Astsetryan told reporters at a checkpoint on the Armenian border.
Azerbaijani authorities moved quickly to reaffirm control of the region, arresting several former members of its separatist government and encouraging ethnic Azerbaijani residents who fled the area amid a separatist war three decades ago to start moving back.
The streets of the regional capital, known as Stepanakert to the ethnic Armenian population and Khankendi to Azerbaijanis, appeared empty and littered with rubbish, with doors of deserted shops left open.
The sign with the city’s Azerbaijani name was placed at the entrance and Azerbaijani police checkpoints were set up on the city’s edges, with officers checking the boots of cars.
Russian peacekeeping troops could be seen on a balcony of one building in the city and others were at their base outside it. On Sunday, Azerbaijan prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for former Nagorno-Karabakh leader Arayik Harutyunyan, who led the region before stepping down last month.
After six years of separatist fighting ended in 1994 following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Nagorno-Karabakh came under the control of ethnic Armenian forces, backed by Armenia.
After a six-week war in 2020, Azerbaijan took back parts of the region in the south Caucasus Mountains along with surrounding territory captured earlier by Armenian forces. Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan alleged that the exodus of ethnic Armenians amounted to “a direct act of ethnic cleansing”.