Many of the refugees, who were displaced by Azerbaijan’s offensive, had endured days at Russian military bases with little certainty of what was awaiting them. Despite widespread fears that the Azerbaijani government would detain any man who had taken up arms, many were allowed to cross the border.
Now at the mercy of the Azerbaijani government, many ethnic Armenians said they believed they had no choice but to flee.
“I am thinking of the home my father built,” Hakobyan said. “He dedicated his whole life to creating a home for us. Now it will be left for the Azerbaijanis.”
About 1500 people had entered Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh as people kept arriving overnight on Sunday (Monday AEST), the Armenian government said. Refugees were sheltered in hotels in the Armenian town of Goris near the border. But their long-term future remained unclear.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia said last week that the country was prepared to welcome 40,000 families. But there is no clarity about where would they live.
Pashinyan also warned in a speech on Sunday that Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh were facing “the threat of ethnic cleansing” unless “effective mechanisms of protection” were created in the enclave under Azerbaijani rule.
Stella Nazerian, who stood in a hotel lobby in Armenia with her husband, Benik, and their three-year-old daughter, said, “We don’t have anyone in Armenia”. Nazerian and her family had spent days at the Russian air base, sleeping outside. When they were ultimately allowed to evacuate, they had no chance to visit their home to pick up clothes and other possessions.
Others described similar deprivations, and many people said they felt lost and abandoned by the Armenian government, Russia and the rest of the international community.
“The children who have lived through this will never recover,” said Boris Shirinyan, 81. “We from Artsakh are upset at the world,” he said, referring to the Armenian name for Nagorno-Karabakh. “No one came for us.”
While some Armenians were able to reunite with their relatives, many others at the border had to wait. But the arrival of the first group of refugees gave them hope.
“My heart is not pounding so much anymore,” said Grigory Zakharyan, 44, who was in Armenia but whose relatives remained in Nagorno-Karabakh.
While some arrived with their families in buses and cars, 23 Armenian refugees arrived in ambulances, a process facilitated by the International Committee of the Red Cross, after being wounded during the Azerbaijani attack last week. They were met by medics in Armenia.
Although the Azerbaijani government has vowed to protect the rights of ethnic Armenians, few residents of Nagorno-Karabakh, who experienced the nearly 10-month blockade, were convinced.
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According to Artak Beglaryan, a former human rights ombudsman in Nagorno-Kabarakh, up to 80 per cent of Armenians there want to leave their homes and move to Armenia. Up to 120,000 Armenians currently reside in the region.
Speaking from the breakaway republic’s capital, Stepanakert, known as Khankendi in Azerbaijani, Beglaryan said that the humanitarian situation there remained dire.
“People are cooking whatever they find and however it is possible,” he said.