report
Tens of thousands of Armenians fleeing Nagorno-Karabakh – they are receiving initial support in the border town of Goris. They are marked by the hasty and arduous journey. Now a long-term solution must be found for them.
From early morning until late at night, people from Nagorno-Karabakh reach the central square in the small town of Goris, not far from the border with Azerbaijan. They have traveled 30 to 40 hours through the Lachin corridor, which connects the enclave with Armenia.
They could only take out of their houses and apartments what would fit in trunks, on car roofs or in the transport compartments of buses.
Some of it is transported on trucks, excavators and tractors that wanted to save the Armenians from the Azerbaijani troops. Since they advanced into Nagorno-Karabakh on September 19, most people realized that they would probably have to leave their homeland forever. More than 70,000 have already arrived.
Escape somehow – even with an excavator that transports the belongings: This Armenian also made it to Goris.
Stunned by the forced escape
Still dazed from the journey, women, children and old people climb down from the truck beds, volunteers in red and blue vests help them and offer them water. Others arrive in cars loaded with suitcases, blankets, pillows, household items and toys that their owners were just able to take with them.
In the makeshift registration center, an old woman sits on a chair and continually strokes the neck of her husband, who sits next to her hunched over and with a desperate look in his eyes – the disbelief at the forced escape from his homeland is written on both of their faces. A Red Cross volunteer talks to a young mother who is breastfeeding her baby with a bottle amid bags.
Long-term solutions
Children enjoy pastries and sweets, of which there have been fewer and fewer in the past nine months since Azerbaijan increasingly blocked the Lachin Corridor, the only connection between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, and in the end not even medicines were able to reach the area.
Those not staying with relatives are staying in government-paid hotel rooms in Goris and other places in the region. Sick people are receiving medical care again for the first time in months.
On Thursday, the Armenian government increased short-term funding for the refugees by the equivalent of one million euros. The challenge now is to create long-term living space for them so that they don’t have to stay in hotels and with relatives in the long term. Tens of thousands of Russians came to Armenia because of the war against Ukraine.
How does it go from here? Refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh line up in Goris for relief supplies.
Executor of the Self-dissolution
The self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, from which the Armenians fled, has virtually ceased to exist, although it will not be formally dissolved until the new year, according to the enclave’s leadership.
President Samvel Sharamanyan, who was only elected on September 9th, was left to settle the matter under pressure from the Azerbaijanis, which neither Armenia nor Russia, as a protecting power, did anything to counter.
Leadership figures threatens long-term imprisonment
The Azerbaijani government demonstrated what threatens resistant leaders by arresting the extremely wealthy Armenian-Russian businessman and patron Ruben Vardanyan on September 27th.
He came to Nagorno-Karabakh a year ago and worked as a state minister against rapprochement with Azerbaijan. Now videos show him with a disheveled beard being taken in handcuffs to a prison cell by Azerbaijani police after being arrested at the Lachin Corridor border checkpoint. He faces years of imprisonment.
Other videos circulating online show Azerbaijani soldiers destroying furniture in Armenian homes. Reports of atrocities against Armenian soldiers and possible war crimes against civilians have not yet been verified.
Thoughts of revenge and reconquest
Even if the Azerbaijani government is now wooing the Armenians and offering them registration as citizens with rights and security, only a few hundred may remain there – probably just enough for Russia to justify a reduced presence of its “peacekeepers”. But the Azerbaijani government wants to see them withdraw completely sooner rather than later.
For this reason, it could agree to an international observer mission, the possible format of which is currently being negotiated. This comes too late for the Armenians who left Nagorno-Karabakh under hardship.
There is great anger not only at the Azerbaijanis but also at the Armenian government, which did nothing. Likewise to the Russian troops, who actively supported the disarmament of the Armenian forces and the evacuation of the people.
Anger is already giving rise to thoughts of retaliation and reconquest when Armenia has recovered in a few years and is strong enough again. The idea that Armenians and Azerbaijanis will ever live next to each other in cities and villages again seems more distant than ever.