It has been one year since the depopulation of Artsakh
A year has passed since the total displacement of the entire population of Nagorno Karabakh. For the first time in its thousand-year history, Nagorno-Karabakh is without Armenians.
On September 19, 2023, after a long siege of the Armenian-populated Artsakh, the Azerbaijani authorities launched a military operation designed to terrorize the civilian population and force them to leave their homes. The new Azerbaijani aggression, which led to the final occupation of Nagorno Karabakh by Armenia, was carried out by the complete inaction of the Russian peacekeeping contingent.
Within a few days, units of the Azerbaijani security forces literally expelled Armenians from cities and villages. After the 44-day war unleashed by Azerbaijan with the support of Turkey in 2020, more than a hundred thousand Armenians left the republic, and several tens of thousands more could not return to their homes and settled in Armenia and other countries. The old men, women and children spent several days on the road. Dozens of elderly people could not bear the fear of losing their home and traveling for long hours. Many Artsakh residents left their homes with their clothes on, some even barefooted.
The nightmare of the migration of Armenians from Nagorno Karabakh was aggravated by the terrible explosion that took place at the gas station near Stepanakert, which claimed the lives of hundreds of people. The cause of the explosion is still unknown.
The ombudsmen of Armenia and Artsakh, human rights organizations presented many facts of deliberate "driving out" of the population. There are facts of murders of civilians, deliberate shelling of residential buildings, the destruction of Armenian cultural and historical heritage continues to this day.
The exact number of Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan is not known. Officially, there is talk of two dozen. Former presidents of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Arkadi Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, Arayik Harutyunyan, former NA Speaker Davit Ishkhanyan, former State Minister Ruben Vardanyan, former Foreign Minister Davit Babayan, former Defense Minister Levon Mnatsakanyan are among those in prison in Baku. and his deputy Davit Manukyan.
