Armenia Prepares to Evacuate Karabakh Armenians After Zelensky Diss: Albania Prime Minister Exposes Russian Diplomats

Armenia is preparing for a possible evacuation of Armenians from the Nagorno-Karabakh region conquered by Azerbaijan. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in Yerevan that 40,000 places had been prepared. It would be better if Karabakh Armenians could stay in their homes, he said at a government meeting on Friday. But this may become impossible. “If the situation worsens, this issue will be on the agenda for all of us.”

According to Armenian information, it was quiet in Nagorno-Karabakh on Friday evening. The South Caucasus is located in Azerbaijan, but is inhabited by ethnic Armenians. With military action on Tuesday and Wednesday, Azerbaijan forced the Armenians to surrender. According to Armenian media, the attack killed at least 200 people and injured more than 400. There were talks on Thursday about the integration of the internationally unrecognized republic into Azerbaijan’s state structures, but they failed to produce any results.

The Karabakh Armenians, who still number tens of thousands, fear being expelled from their homeland or oppressed in authoritarian Azerbaijan. At the UN Security Council in New York, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan accused Azerbaijan of ethnic cleansing. Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, in turn, spoke about action against terrorists in Karabakh.

Armenia stands in solidarity with its compatriots in Karabakh. After losing the war against Azerbaijan in 2020, Pashinyan’s leadership wants to prevent the conflict from spreading to the motherland Armenia. In Yerevan, there were protests on Friday, as in previous days, against what demonstrators felt was Pashinyan’s stance too lenient.

(sda/dpa)