[1/5] A view shows a border-crossing point on the frontier between Armenia and Azerbaijan and a base of Russian peacekeepers deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh as seen from a road near the village of Kornidzor, Armenia, September 23, 2023.
REUTERS/Irakli Gedenidze Acquire Licensing RightsSummary Ethnic Armenians to leave Karabakh - leadership120,000 people could move into ArmeniaProcess of giving up weapons is underwayNEAR KORNIDZOR, Armenia, Sept 24 (Reuters) - The 120,000 ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh will leave for Armenia as they do not want to live as part of Azerbaijan and fear ethnic cleansing, the leadership of the breakaway region told Reuters on Sunday.
Azerbaijan says it will guarantee their rights and integrate the region but the leadership of the Armenians in Karabakh told Reuters that they would leave.
He said it was unclear when the Karabakh Armenians would move down the Lachin corridor which links the territory to Armenia, where Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has faced calls to resign for failing to save Karabakh.
Azerbaijan, which is mainly Muslim, has said the Armenians, who are Christian, can leave if they want.
Persons:
Irakli, David Babayan, Samvel Shahramanyan, Nikol Pashinyan, Babayan, Pashinyan, Felix Light, Guy Faulconbridge, Lidia Kelly, William Mallard, Peter Graff
Organizations:
REUTERS, Karabakh, Reuters, Sunday, Soviets, International Committee, Thomson
Locations:
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Nagorno, Karabakh, Kornidzor, KORNIDZOR, Soviet Union, Republic of Artsakh, Russians, Ottomans, South Caucasus, Russia, United States, Turkey, Iran, Moscow