Reuter In Khanlar

AZERI refugees fleeing the war zone are pouring into this settlement in northern Azerbaijan, ragged, starving and frozen after a hazardous trek across snowbound mountains. They arrive at a rate of up to 900 a day after a 50-mile journey through a wilderness in the lower Caucasus. They are fleeing an Armenian offensive in the west of Azerbaijan which has intensified the five-year battle over Nagorno-Karabakh. In all, almost 2,500 people have died in the dispute.

Armenian forces seized the western town of Kelbadzhar and a broad swath of territory adjoining Karabakh on Saturday, trapping tens of thousands of civilians, Azeri authorities say.

The march across the mountains has killed many refugees, according to survivors. They had to leave the bodies high in the mountain passes, somewhere between the Azeri and Armenian positions. Many who arrive in the Khanlar refugee centre feebly drive sheep, goats and other livestock ahead of them. After having been driven out of their homes by fighting in the Khelbadzhar region to the south, these are virtually their only possessions.

“We’ve been walking for five days without food. If it had not been for the Red Crescent that gave us food and water, we would have died,” one herdsman, Mazem, said.

The most gruelling part is an eight-hour hike through a dangerous pass in the Murovdag mountain range, at a height of 12,000ft. Temperatures are down to minus 10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit), and the snow is thick. Mazem said at least 30 refugees died on the march. Armenian soldiers collected many of the bodies. The refugees said many more people could be trapped between Armenian and Azeri units.

Forced out… An elderly Azeri flees the village of Kelbadzhar, which Armenian forces captured at the weekend

Publication date 04/06/1993 

Courtesy of Karabagh Truths platform