Despite Azerbaijan’s pledge to ‘guarantee’ the rights of those who remain, thousands of residents flee to Armenia.

Thousands of people from Nagorno-Karabakh have taken refuge in Armenia, despite Azerbaijan’s promise that its president Ilham Aliyev reiterated on Monday (September 25) the rights of Armenians staying in the region, which was captured by its army last week. “Guarantee”.

All the people living there, “Regardless of their ethnicity, citizens of Azerbaijan. Their rights are guaranteed by the state of Azerbaijan.Mr. Aliyev, during a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Nakhchivan, the land that lay between Armenia and Iran and was annexed to Azerbaijan in 1923. “We hope that Armenia will understand the peaceful hand”For his part Mr. Erdogan began.

The visit of the Turkish head of state, which plays a key role in this part of the Caucasus, has a strong symbolic value, just days after the lightning victory of Azerbaijani soldiers against the troops of the self-proclaimed “republic”. Nagorno-Karabakh., the region was mainly inhabited by Armenians and was annexed by Soviet power to Azerbaijan in 1921.

Russia, which claims the Caucasus as its own territory and deployed a peacekeeping force in the disputed territory three years ago, firmly rejected criticism leveled by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Monday. “We are categorically against attempts to place responsibility on the Russian side and Russian peacekeeping forces.”Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied all “blasphemy” on alleged violations.

Russian diplomacy went so far as to blame Armenia. “Hostages to the West’s Geopolitical Games”to search “destroy” Bilateral relations. “We believe that the Armenian authorities are making a huge mistake by knowingly seeking to destroy Russian-Armenian relations, which are multi-faceted and established centuries ago, and by making its country a hostage to the West’s geopolitical games.”He said in a press release.

The US, for its part, assessed Monday evening’s events as proof that Russia was not “Trusted Security Partner”. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said “deep concern” of the United States on the fate of the Armenian residents of Nagorno-Karabakh. He mentioned “Active Discussions” A in sending “International Mission” target “Ensure transparency, [à] Confirmation and [à] Give Residents Confidence » of the region.

An explosion at a fuel depot in the Nagorno-Karabakh region on Monday evening injured more than 200 people, according to local officials, prompting an urgent request for outside aid to deal with the disaster. “Majority [des blessés] are in serious or very serious condition”The self-proclaimed republic’s human rights official Kegam Stephanian announced on social media.

The EU receives Armenian and Azerbaijani representatives

The European Union (EU) was to receive senior representatives of Armenia and Azerbaijan, the two former Soviet republics that clashed militarily in Nagorno-Karabakh from 1988 to 1994 (with 30,000 deaths), in Brussels on Tuesday. 2020 (6,500 deaths).

The meeting will be chaired by Simon Mordeau, Principal Diplomatic Adviser to Charles Michael, President of the European Council. Azerbaijan and Armenia, as well as France and Germany, will be represented by their national security advisors. The EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus region, Estonian Ambassador Doivo Klar, will also participate in the meeting. The Armenian prime minister and the Azerbaijani president are expected to attend a meeting of the European political community, which brings together some fifty European countries, in Granada, southern Spain, on October 5.

Demonstrators continue to protest Armenian Prime Minister’s inaction in Yerevan

Meanwhile, the influx of refugees from the Nagorno-Karabakh region to Armenian soil continued on Monday, with heavy traffic jams reported on the only road connecting its capital, Stepanakert, to Armenia. In total, there are 6,650 people “Forcibly Displaced” According to the latest assessment by the Armenian government, it is from this area that entered Armenia since Sunday after the defeat of the separatist fighters. On the Azerbaijani side, in areas close to Nagorno-Karabakh, such as Tatar and Beylakhan, many of those who left the region in the past want to resettle there.

In Yerevan, as every evening for a week, demonstrators protested Azerbaijan’s attack on Mr. They condemned Pashinyan’s inaction. Several thousand people waved the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenian separatist flag in the Armenian capital’s central square on Monday evening.