Ethnic Armenians to leave Nagorno-Karabakh following Azerbaijan victory, local official says

The ethnic Armenian population in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region will leave for Armenia after Azerbaijan reclaimed the territory in a brief offensive, a local official says.

“Our people do not want to live as part of Azerbaijan. Ninety-nine point nine percent prefer to leave our historic lands,” David Babayan, an adviser to Samvel Shahramanyan, the president of the self-styled Republic of Artsakh, told Reuters. The region is known as Artsakh to Armenians.

“The fate of our poor people will go down in history as a disgrace and a shame for the Armenian people and for the whole civilized world,” Babayan said, adding that those responsible will have to answer before God.