Armenians describe escape after fall of Nagorno-Karabakh
Terrified families fleeing in fear of ethnic cleansing after the collapse of Nagorno-Karabakh are running out of water and fuel during the desperate two-day journey to neighbouring Armenia.David, an 18-year-old refugee said he feels “empty inside” after being forced to leave his home.Nagorno-Karabakh is an enclave of ethnic Armenians surrounded by Azerbaijan.The area had enjoyed de facto independence for three decades despite being internationally recognised as being part of Azerbaijan.Azerbaijan launched a lightning military operation earlier this month to retake the enclave.More than 90,000 Karabakh Armenians – around three-quarters of the total population – have now left their homes, many leaving behind all their belongings.The Independent
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 I'm sad that I left my home.
00:02 I don't know what to say.
00:07 [FOREIGN]
00:18 [BLANK_AUDIO]
00:28 [FOREIGN]
00:43 [BLANK_AUDIO]
00:48 After about one week we left Artsakh and
00:54 after 40 hour trip we reached Goriz.
00:59 We don't know where we're going to stay.
01:03 We're thinking of going to Yerevan but
01:08 we don't know any place or any people
01:13 who can find a place for us to stay.
01:17 At the moment around 100,000 people left Artsakh and
01:22 most of them don't have nothing with them.
01:26 They only took a few clothes and that's it.
01:29 >> How old are you?
01:31 >> I'm 80.
01:32 >> How do you feel today?
01:35 >> I'm happy.
01:38 >> And empty inside.
01:39 [BLANK_AUDIO]
01:47 >> I'm here with AGBU and World Central Kitchen.
01:51 We're cooperating together to be able to distribute as much as hot meal as we can
01:56 for the refugees who's leaving Artsakh with nothing and
02:00 already they've been blocked for nine months.
02:03 So we're trying our best to get as much as hot meal as possible with coordination
02:08 with the locals, local partners, farmers,
02:11 anything that we can get to be able to distribute.
02:14 >> It's a hive of activity here in central Goriz.
02:16 You can see there are multiple tents here providing water, food and
02:20 medical supplies for those who fled Nagorno-Karabakh.
02:24 Right here is a pile of donated clothes that people are picking through because
02:28 they left with whatever what they had on their backs and they have nothing.
02:31 They have no belongings and this is going to be the problem.
02:34 They can exist like this for a few days but what about the future?
02:38 And this is what people have been saying to me.
02:40 Where are they going to live?
02:41 Where are they going to work?
02:43 What are they going to call home?
02:45 This is gonna be the problem for Armenia and for the Karabakh Armenians in the
02:49 coming days, weeks, months and years.
02:51 [BLANK_AUDIO]