Exodus from Nagorno-Karabakh accelerates; Azerbaijan arrests former leader
- 8 months ago
#englishnews #nagornokarabakh
News Article :-
More than 47,000 people fleeing from Nagorno-Karabakh had crossed into Armenia by Wednesday afternoon, Armenian authorities said, as a mass exodus of the population accelerated ahead of Azerbaijan asserting control of the disputed region.
As the number of displaced people soared, Azerbaijani border guards said they had detained Ruben Vardanyan, the former state minister of the fast-fading self-declared Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, which Armenians call Artsakh.
Vardanyan was arrested as he tried to cross the border along with other refugees, according to his wife, who posted about his detention on social media.
The Azerbaijani state border service published a photo of Vardanyan in custody, apparently in handcuffs but with his hands blurred out, standing next to two officers at what appeared to be an airport. Authorities said that Vardanyan had been taken to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, and “passed on to the appropriate state bodies.”
A surprise military offensive by Azerbaijan last week forced the self-declared government of Nagorno-Karabakh to capitulate and agree to dismantle its armed forces — apparently bringing a stunning end to one of the world’s most bitter and longest-running territorial disputes.
Nagorno-Karabakh, which is internationally recognized as Azerbaijani territory, has been fiercely contested by Armenia and Azerbaijan for decades, since a war in the late 1980s and early 1990s when Armenia won control of the mountainous region.
During a brief war in 2020, Azerbaijan seized back most of its territory that had fallen to Armenian control decades earlier, including areas that had once been home to thousands of Azerbaijanis. A cease-fire, hastily brokered by Russia, left uncertain the fate of Nagorno-Karabakh’s capital, Stepanakert, its population of roughly 50,000 and some 70,000 other residents of the region, most of them ethnic Armenians.
Since then, Russian peacekeepers failed to prevent further clashes and also were unable to stop an Azerbaijani blockade of the sole highway connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia through an area known as the Lachin Corridor.
On Wednesday, Azerbaijan announced that 192 soldiers had been killed and 511 wounded during last week’s offensive. Those figures could not be independently verified.
Vardanyan’s wife, Veronika Zonabend, confirmed her husband's arrest, and said that he was being “held captive” after he had attempted to leave Nagorno-Karabakh Wednesday morning.
Vardanyan, an Armenian-Russian oligarch turned state minister of the breakaway region, was a sharp critic of Azerbaijan’s policies and had advocated loudly for self-determination of Nagorno-Karabakh. Last September, Vardanyan gave up his Russian citizenship to move to Nagorno-Karabakh.
“Ruben stood with the Artsakh people during the 10-month blockade and suffered along with them in the struggle for survival,” Zonabend said in her statement. “I ask fo
News Article :-
More than 47,000 people fleeing from Nagorno-Karabakh had crossed into Armenia by Wednesday afternoon, Armenian authorities said, as a mass exodus of the population accelerated ahead of Azerbaijan asserting control of the disputed region.
As the number of displaced people soared, Azerbaijani border guards said they had detained Ruben Vardanyan, the former state minister of the fast-fading self-declared Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, which Armenians call Artsakh.
Vardanyan was arrested as he tried to cross the border along with other refugees, according to his wife, who posted about his detention on social media.
The Azerbaijani state border service published a photo of Vardanyan in custody, apparently in handcuffs but with his hands blurred out, standing next to two officers at what appeared to be an airport. Authorities said that Vardanyan had been taken to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, and “passed on to the appropriate state bodies.”
A surprise military offensive by Azerbaijan last week forced the self-declared government of Nagorno-Karabakh to capitulate and agree to dismantle its armed forces — apparently bringing a stunning end to one of the world’s most bitter and longest-running territorial disputes.
Nagorno-Karabakh, which is internationally recognized as Azerbaijani territory, has been fiercely contested by Armenia and Azerbaijan for decades, since a war in the late 1980s and early 1990s when Armenia won control of the mountainous region.
During a brief war in 2020, Azerbaijan seized back most of its territory that had fallen to Armenian control decades earlier, including areas that had once been home to thousands of Azerbaijanis. A cease-fire, hastily brokered by Russia, left uncertain the fate of Nagorno-Karabakh’s capital, Stepanakert, its population of roughly 50,000 and some 70,000 other residents of the region, most of them ethnic Armenians.
Since then, Russian peacekeepers failed to prevent further clashes and also were unable to stop an Azerbaijani blockade of the sole highway connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia through an area known as the Lachin Corridor.
On Wednesday, Azerbaijan announced that 192 soldiers had been killed and 511 wounded during last week’s offensive. Those figures could not be independently verified.
Vardanyan’s wife, Veronika Zonabend, confirmed her husband's arrest, and said that he was being “held captive” after he had attempted to leave Nagorno-Karabakh Wednesday morning.
Vardanyan, an Armenian-Russian oligarch turned state minister of the breakaway region, was a sharp critic of Azerbaijan’s policies and had advocated loudly for self-determination of Nagorno-Karabakh. Last September, Vardanyan gave up his Russian citizenship to move to Nagorno-Karabakh.
“Ruben stood with the Artsakh people during the 10-month blockade and suffered along with them in the struggle for survival,” Zonabend said in her statement. “I ask fo