Envoys from Baku and Yerevan were set to meet in Brussels for talks on Tuesday as thousands of refugees fled Nagorno-Karabakh after Azerbaijan’s lightning takeover of the majority ethnic Armenian enclave.
Last week, an offensive by Baku’s forces established Azerbaijani control over the breakaway region, forcing ethnic Armenian fighters to disarm.
Tuesday’s meeting in Brussels will be the first such encounter since the offensive but the leaders of both countries are scheduled to meet next month. Simon Mordue, the chief diplomatic adviser to European Council president Charles Michel, will chair the talks, Michel’s spokesperson said.
Azerbaijan and Armenia, along with EU heavyweights France and Germany, will be represented by their national security advisers.
Several days after the fighting, the first refugees arrived in Armenia on Sunday and 13,550 people have so far entered, Yerevan said on Tuesday morning.
Many have fled to Goris, a resort town near the border with Armenia that is at the centre of an exodus of refugees that could swell to up to 120,000 people.
“I built my home for 30 years and the only thing that I have with me is this bag,” said Gayane Shagants, who fled the town of Martakert with her brother and his family. “My home is in this bag. They should be very happy that we are leaving because we left our homes to them.”
Her brother, Genadi Hyusunts, said he had just brought home his four-day old baby from the hospital when the Azerbaijani shelling began last week. Within hours, he had to hustle his wife, the newborn child and his six other children to the shelter in his native Martakert, while he headed to the frontline.
Many of those crossing to Armenia through the Lachin corridor, which was blocked for 10 months by Azerbaijani forces, have already been forced from their homes before in past conflicts.
“I have already lived through my third war,” said Anna Hakobyan, a woman in her 70s, who evacuated with her 90-year-old mother. “I will never go back. It is enough for me.”
Border towns appear in danger of being overwhelmed, with city hotels and hostels fully booked and refugees crowding around municipal centres with all their possessions tied to the roofs of their cars.
Late on Monday, an explosion at a fuel depot near the regional capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, Stepanakert, left at least 20 people dead and almost 300 wounded, according to Armenian separatist authorities. People had been queueing at the depot to collect fuel before leaving for Armenia.
The blast took place hours after the second round of talks between Azerbaijani officials and separatist representatives was held Monday in the town of Khojaly, 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.
As ethnic Armenians continue to flee Nagorno-Karabakh, Moscow and Washington have accused each other of destabilising the South Caucasus region.
Although Armenia had relied on a security partnership with Russia since the break-up of the Soviet Union, their relations have frayed since President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the US state department blamed Moscow for failing to intervene in last week’s Azerbaijani takeover. “I do think that Russia has shown that it is not a security partner that can be relied on,” he told reporters.
The remarks were not well-received by Russia. “We urge Washington to refrain from extremely dangerous words and actions that lead to an artificial increase in anti-Russian sentiment in Armenia,” Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador to the US, said on the messaging app Telegram.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two wars in the last three decades over Nagorno-Karabakh, a majority ethnic Armenian enclave within the internationally recognised border of Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan’s lightning operation on 19 September to seize control of the territory forced the separatists to lay down their arms under the terms of a ceasefire agreed the following day.
It followed a nine-month blockade of the region by Baku that caused shortages of key supplies. The separatists have said 200 people were killed in last week’s fighting. Baku announced two of its soldiers also died when a mine hit their vehicle on Sunday.
Agence France-Presse and Reuters contributed to this report
