18:01, 28 January 2022

Yerevan protesters demand to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh

A rally of the forced migrants. Yerevan, January 27, 2022. Screenshot of the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C13z3wAr-pg

Forced migrants have held a rally in Yerevan, demanding from the Armenian authorities to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent state and grant them the refugee status.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that, according to the Statistical Service of Nagorno-Karabakh, after the 2020 autumn war, up to 40,000 people became forced migrants, of which 25,000 are in Armenia. It is difficult for them to find work and rent housing.

The forced migrants from the regions of Karabakh that came under Azerbaijani control have repeatedly protested in Yerevan. On November 9, 2021, they demanded from the Armenian authorities to solve their social problems and grant them the refugee status.

On Thursday (January 27), the Armenian government extended for two months the programme of supporting the people who lost their homes as a result of the war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

This financial support is "so small that no problems can be solved," Levon Airiyan, a forced migrant from Gadrut, has complained.

"Firstly, this money is not enough for anything; and secondly, we need not money, but homeland," he said.

Armenian authorities should recognize the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, Arthur Stepanyan, a refugee from Gadrut, has stated. His family pays 130,000 drams (about USD 273) for renting housing in Yerevan; they only manage to buy foodstuffs and pay utility bills.

For more than 30 years, Armenia fails to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as a sovereign state, which declared its independence back in September 1991.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 27, 2022 at 05:39 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Armine Martirosyan

Source: CK correspondent