100,417 refugees have already taken refuge in Armenia Nagorno-Karabakh – Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s spokesman Naceli Baghdasarian said at a press conference on Saturday. The population of the Armenian settlement is estimated at 120,000.
Earlier, Armenian authorities were accused of ethnic cleansing by Azerbaijani troops.
Azerbaijani officials on Thursday appealed to Armenians not to leave the enclaves, but to become “part of Azerbaijan’s multi-ethnic society”; The Foreign Ministry in Baku said leaving the enclave was a personal decision of the residents and had nothing to do with forced migration.
A video appeared on social media showing an abandoned square in the center of the Nagorno-Karabakh capital.
Baku has issued international arrest warrants for more than 300 Armenian separatists, Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General Khamran Aliyev announced on Sunday; Leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh separatist authorities are among those wanted, Haq’s website said.
The prosecutor said that Azerbaijan had collected evidence of crimes committed by the separatists since the beginning of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. “A total of 300 criminal cases have been initiated. More than 300 criminals are wanted on international arrest warrants,” Aliyev said.
For example, former separatist president Araik Harutyunyan and commander of the Nagorno-Karabakh armed forces Jalal Harutyunyan are wanted, the lawyer added.
He asked the wanted Armenian representatives to voluntarily surrender to the Azerbaijani authorities.
Azerbaijan launched a 24-hour offensive on September 19, after which separatist Nagorno-Karabakh forces laid down their arms. Authorities in the unrecognized republic, which declared independence 30 years ago, have announced the dissolution of quasi-state structures from January 1, 2024.
(Sources: PAP, Twitter)