Ethnic Armenians Flee Nagorno-Karabakh As Yerevan Protests Grow

This was the scene late on September 24 as ethnic Armenians prepared to flee Nagorno-Karabakh past a billboard featuring the Russian flag, and Vladimir Putin. The photo was taken in the city known as Stepanakert in Armenian, and Xankendi in Azeri. 

Coffins outside a morgue in Stepanakert on September 24. Funerals of ethnic Armenian soldiers and civilians took place on September 24 after Baku launched an attack on the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which the separatist authorities claim killed at least 200 people. 

Refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh arrive in the southern Armenian city of Goris on September 24.

Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but has been inhabited by ethnic Armenians for centuries. The two countries have fought several wars for control of the region and since December 2022, Baku has maintained a blockade on the region that cut off food and medicine supplies.
 

Refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh arrive in the village of Kornidzor, near Goris, on September 24.

RFE/RL’s Armenian Service spoke to some refugees who said: "We slept in cars. We are from the village of Mets Shen, more are coming, people have all left the village."

Red Cross workers speak with a refugee in Kornidzor on September 24. 

Some residents of Nagorno-Karabakh are moving from isolated villages toward Stepenakert amid increasing uncertainty. "We are still moving to Stepanakert," one ethnic Armenian villager told RFE/RL. "Let's see what is decided. It's still uncertain," they said. 

Refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh arrive in a bus in Kornidzor on September 24.

 

In a photo released on September 24, Azerbaijani military personnel, and one unidentified Iranian serviceman (center) in Susa stand alongside weapons that Azerbaijan says were captured from ethnic Armenian fighters. On September 19, a military operation was launched by Baku against ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.
 

Uniforms of ethnic Armenian soldiers displayed under a sign made with automatic rifle magazines says "Karabakh is Azerbaijan!" in Susa, known as Shushi in Armenian. The military of the separatist region began to be disbanded after a September 20 agreement was reached between Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenian authorities. 

Thousands of protesters gather in Yerevan on the evening of September 24. Many in Armenia are pointing the finger at Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian for the escalating crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Young protesters wave the flag of the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh region in front of riot police guarding Armenia’s government building in Yerevan on September 22.