\n Armenian separatists from Nagorno-Karabakh said Monday their officials would stay in the region after Azerbaijan's offensive for rescue operations, as Yerevan reported \"casualties\" in a border shoot out with Baku's forces.\n<\/p>\n
\n Separatists says over 200 people were killed in fighting Azerbaijan late last month and that a further 170 died when a fuel depot exploded as scores of civilians fled Karabakh over fears of ethnic cleansing.\n<\/p>\n
\n After three decades of Armenian control, the separatist authorities have agreed to disarm, dissolve their government and reintegrate with Azerbaijan in the wake of Baku's one-day military operation in late September.\n<\/p>\n
\n Almost all of the around 120,000 residents of the mountainous region fled after Baku's offensive.\n<\/p>\n
\n The separatist government however said leader Samvel Shahramanyan will stay in Karabakh's main city of Stepanakert with a group of officials \"until the search and rescue operations for the remainder of those killed and those missing\" were completed.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"The government continues to focus on the issue of those citizens who want to move to the Republic of Armenia,\" the government added in a statement.\n<\/p>\n
\n Separatist official Artak Beglaryan said \"a few hundred\" Armenian representatives remained in Karabakh.\n<\/p>\n
\n He said they included \"officials, emergency service, volunteers, some persons with special needs.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n Separatist official Artak Beglaryan said \"a few hundred\" Armenian representatives remained in Karabakh.\n<\/p>\n
\n He said they included \"officials, emergency service, volunteers, some persons with special needs.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n - Separatists in jail -\n<\/p>\n
\n Yerevan reported \"casualties\" on its side, saying Azerbaijani forces had fired on \"a vehicle carrying food\" for its soldiers in a border region.\n<\/p>\n
\n Armenia said the incident took place near the eastern village of Kut. Azerbaijan rejected the claim.\n<\/p>\n
\n Yerevan has accused Azerbaijan of conducting a campaign of \"ethnic cleansing\" to clear Karabakh of its Armenian population.\n<\/p>\n
\n Baku has denied the claim and called on Armenian residents of the territory to stay and \"re-integrate\" into Azerbaijan, saying their rights would be guaranteed.\n<\/p>\n
\n AFP journalists on Monday saw a convoy carrying water and communications workers that was allowed to enter Stepanakert.\n<\/p>\n
\n The convoy was escorted by the Azerbaijani army.\n<\/p>\n
\n They also saw a bus carrying officials who planned to open a \"re-integration\" office in the city for any ethnic Armenians wishing to register with Azerbaijani authorities.\n<\/p>\n
\n Azerbaijan is holding \"re-integration\" talks with separatist leaders.\n<\/p>\n
\n Several senior representatives of its former government and military command have been detained, including Ruben Vardanyan -- a reported billionaire who headed the Nagorno-Karabakh government between November 2022 and February.\n<\/p>\n
\n His four children released a statement on social media Monday demanding his release \"from the illegal imprisonment on the territory of Azerbaijan\", saying they \"feared for his life and health.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n Azerbaijan's Prosecutor General Kamran Aliyev said criminal investigations had been initiated into war crimes committed by 300 separatist officials.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"I urge those persons to surrender voluntarily,\" he told journalists on Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Armenian separatists from Nagorno-Karabakh said Monday their officials would stay in the region after Azerbaijan's offensive for rescue operations, as Yerevan reported \"casualties\" in a border shoot out with Baku's forces. Separatists says over 200 people were killed in fighting Azerbaijan late last month and that a further 170 died when a fuel depot exploded […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-122629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n