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Smoke rises after a fuel depot explosion near Stepanakert (Siranush Sargsyan’s Twitter) PA
Refugees
At least 20 dead and 290 hospitalised after fuel depot explosion in disputed Nagorno-Karabakh
It was not immediately clear what caused the blast.
A POWERFUL BLAST at a fuel depot in Nagorno-Karabakh killed at least 20 people and injured hundreds more yesterday as ethnic Armenians streamed out of the breakaway territory after the Azerbaijani military reclaimed full control of it.
The explosion at the fuel storage facility near the regional capital of Stepanakert killed 20 people and wounded nearly 300, separatist authorities said. They added that 290 people have been hospitalised.
It was not immediately clear what caused the blast, which happened as residents were lining up to get fuel for their cars in order to leave the region, but Nagorno-Karabakh presidential aide David Babayan said initial information suggested that sabotage was unlikely.
The majority of the victims were in “severe or extremely severe” condition, Nagorno-Karabakh human rights ombudsman Gegham Stepanyan tweeted.
As a result of the explosion in the fuel warehouse, the number of injured exceeds 200.
— Gegham Stepanyan #StopArtsakhBlockade (@Gegham_Artsakh) September 25, 2023
The health condition of the majority is severe or extremely severe.
The medical capacities of NK are not enough.
Sanitary aviation must land very urgently to save people's lives.
Armenia’s health ministry said a helicopter brought some blast victims to Armenia this morning, and more flights were expected.
Azerbaijani presidential aide Hikmet Hajiyev said on X (formerly Twitter) that hospitals in Azerbaijan were ready to treat victims, but none if any had been taken to them. Azerbaijan has sent in burn-treatment medicine and other humanitarian aid, he said.
Armenia/Azerbaijan: Hundreds of burn victims of an explosion at a fuel depot are in urgent need of specialized medical care.
— ICRC (@ICRC) September 26, 2023
Hospitals were already over capacity even before the influx of patients from the explosion, making the situation extra-critical. pic.twitter.com/4Wb6wqxfW6
‘Reintegration’
The Azerbaijani military routed Armenian forces in a 24-hour blitz last week, forcing the separatist authorities to agree to lay down weapons and start talks on Nagorno-Karabakh’s “reintegration” into Azerbaijan after three decades of separatist rule.
While Azerbaijan has pledged to respect the rights of ethnic Armenians in the region and restore supplies after a 10-month blockade, many local residents feared reprisals and decided to leave for Armenia.
Armenia’s government said this morning that more than 13,500 people — about 12% of Nagorno-Karabakh’s population — have fled to Armenia this week.
Azerbaijani border guards have been seeking out “war crime” suspects among the Armenian refugees flooding out of Nagorno-Karabakh today, AFP reported.
An AFP team allowed to access the refugees’ route to Armenia, on a tour organised by the Azerbaijani government, saw that most of the people crossing the border were women with children and the elderly.
The few Armenian men in their 20s and 30s coming out Tuesday were forced to stare into a camera for identification at the last Azerbaijani border post.
“Azerbaijan intends to apply an amnesty to Armenian fighters who laid down their arms in Karabakh,” an Azerbaijani government source told AFP.
“But those who committed war crimes during the Karabakh wars must be handed over to us,” the source said.
Moscow said that Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh were assisting the evacuation. Some 700 people remained in the peacekeepers’ camp there yesterday.
Dozens of people were lining up at the fuel facility where the blast occurred because they had been promised fuel, a scarcity during the blockade, for their cars in order to move to Armenia, according to Nagorno-Karabakh’s separatist authorities.
The explosion took place hours after the second round of talks between Azerbaijani officials and separatist representatives was held in the town of Khojaly, just north of the Nagorno-Karabakh capital.
The first round was held last week. Azerbaijan’s presidential office said in a statement that the talks were held “in a constructive atmosphere” and that discussion focused on humanitarian aid to the region and medical services.
Azerbaijan’s defence ministry said on yesterday that two of its soldiers were killed a day earlier when a military truck hit a land mine.
In an address to the nation on Sunday, Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan said his government was working with international partners to protect the rights and security of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“If these efforts do not produce concrete results, the government will welcome our sisters and brothers from Nagorno-Karabakh in the Republic of Armenia with every care,” he said.
Demonstrators demanding Pashinyan’s resignation over what they call his failure to protect Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh continued blocking the Armenian capital’s main avenues yesterday, clashing occasionally with police.
Background
Nagorno-Karabakh came under the control of ethnic Armenian forces, backed by the Armenian military, in separatist fighting that ended in 1994.
During the war in 2020, Azerbaijan took back parts of Nagorno-Karabakh along with surrounding territory that Armenian forces had claimed during the earlier conflict.
In December, Azerbaijan imposed a blockade of the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia, alleging that the Armenian government was using the road for mineral extraction and illicit weapons shipments to the region’s separatist forces.
Armenia said the closure denied basic food and fuel supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh’s approximately 120,000 people.
Azerbaijan rejected the accusation, arguing the region could receive supplies through the Azerbaijani city of Aghdam, a solution long resisted by Nagorno-Karabakh authorities, who called it a strategy for Azerbaijan to gain control of the region.
Diplomatic response
On Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron pledged support for Armenia and Armenians, saying that France will mobilise food and medical aid for the population of Nagorno-Karabakh, and keep working toward a ‘’sustainable peace’’ in the region.
France, which has a big Armenian diaspora, has for decades played a mediating role in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, meanwhile, visited Azerbaijan yesterday in a show of support to its ally.
Russia has been the main ally and sponsor of Armenia and has a military base there, but it also has sought to maintain friendly ties with Azerbaijan.
But Moscow’s clout in the region has waned quickly amid the Russian war in Ukraine while the influence of Azerbaijan’s top ally Turkey has increased.
Erdogan arrived in Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan exclave yesterday for talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to discuss Turkey-Azerbaijan ties and regional and global issues.
Nakhchivan is cut off from the rest of Azerbaijan by Armenian territory but forms a slim border with Turkey.
The men signed a deal for a gas pipeline and the Turkish leader said “I’m very pleased to be with all of you as we connect Nakhchivan with the Turkish world”.
With reporting from AFP
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