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Report
Karabakh 'completely abandoned': Ethnic Armenians have fled decades-old 'armed conflict, violence'
FRANCE 24 English
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10/4/2023
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Transcript
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00:00
So what then is the situation like in Nagorno-Karabakh today after that mass exodus of its population?
00:07
Joining me live on the line now is Marco Succi. He's the team leader for the International
00:12
Committee of the Red Cross and he's currently in the region's self-declared capital of Stepanakert.
00:19
Thank you very much indeed, sir, for finding the time to talk to us today.
00:22
Good afternoon. Thanks for having me.
00:26
It's been really hard for us journalists to get information out of Stepanakert in recent
00:32
weeks, but you are there, you're on the ground, so just give us a sense of what you've witnessed.
00:40
After the large scale movement population that took place after the 19th and 20th September
00:47
military escalation, the city has been completely abandoned. The main city has been completely
00:53
abandoned. So what we see every day is empty streets, empty shops, empty buildings, empty
01:01
infrastructure. Some essential services like water, water supplies and electricity have
01:08
remained pretty functional while others are being restored, like for instance telecommunication,
01:16
which also created a generated absurdness for those remaining because they couldn't
01:22
connect anymore with their family members who crossed into Armenia. That's one of our
01:27
priorities right now, to reconnect family members.
01:32
Right this morning we got a couple of good news because we managed to find or to reconnect
01:37
residents here in the city that Armenians called Stepanakert and the Azerbaijani Khankendi,
01:45
a couple of residents, reconnecting them with the families in Armenia. In both cases there
01:49
were men deciding to stay while their families, wives, children and parents left almost a
01:57
week ago. This was really the first sign of life for, since days. So I imagine the joy,
02:06
the relief for the families and also for our teams.
02:10
That is extraordinary. Forgive me for cutting across you there, but that is extraordinary
02:14
that you've been there for several days and you've only found several ethnic Armenians
02:19
who've chosen to remain. Explain to us about why those people have chosen to stay. Do you
02:26
have any sense of the number of ethnic Armenians that are still in Stepanakert?
02:31
It's difficult to say. As I said, the city is completely deserted and probably a few
02:41
dozens, hundreds at best have remained in the cities. For the reasons why it's difficult
02:49
to ascertain, people felt the need to leave. Now what was behind everybody's decision is
02:55
difficult to know. We should also take into consideration how the situation was over the
03:02
last month since the disruption in the movement of people and goods along the Lachin Corridor.
03:11
Which of course generated a lack of supplies, medical supplies, basic commodities, etc.
03:25
So the situation was already difficult and we shouldn't also forget the history of armed
03:32
conflict and violence in this region for at least the past 30 years.
03:36
Indeed. And explain to us then what the Red Cross is trying to do now. You're saying very
03:42
few ethnic Armenians remain in Stepanakert. Are you trying to get those few that remain
03:48
out? What's your big job right now?
03:52
No, not really. During the first, in the wake of the military escalation, the priority was
04:01
of course to contribute and support the evacuation of the urgent medical cases. Wounded in particular,
04:10
then you certainly know or would remember the deadly explosion of the fuel depot causing
04:18
almost 200 deaths. Even there we contributed to treat some of these injured. We evacuated
04:26
more than 70 wounded into Armenia, but this was the first phase. At this point, our priority
04:36
is to find the vulnerable with social conditions in need of either being evacuated or medical
04:42
treatment. That's our first priority. And then of course provide supplies for those
04:47
who chose to remain. And indeed offering forensic support. Let's not forget the importance
04:55
of making sure people do not disappear. I mean, people don't disappear in the sense
05:07
that the bodies and the human remains do not get mishandled and misidentified. The importance
05:13
of identifying bodies.
05:16
Absolutely. Can I just ask you a final question? You're painting a picture for us of effectively
05:23
a ghost town in Stepanakert, the vast majority of ethnic Armenians have left. Are there any
05:29
signs of Azerbaijanis there? Are there Azerbaijani soldiers in the streets? Are there any signs
05:35
that Azerbaijani civilians are planning to move to Stepanakert?
05:43
What I can tell you is that we see a few police patrolling the city. For the rest, I cannot
05:52
really confirm any of those. What for sure is that there are still humanitarian needs
05:59
in the city and probably outside the city. This would be the next priority for us once
06:06
we have managed to reach out to the vulnerable here in the city, including the elderly, the
06:12
wounded, the sick and the disabled.
06:16
Marco Succi from the International Committee of the Red Cross talking to us live there
06:20
from Stepanakert, the self-declared capital of Nagorno-Karabakh. Thank you very much.
06:25
[BLANK_AUDIO]
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