Envoys from Baku and Yerevan
prepared to meet in Brussels for talks on Tuesday as thousands of refugees
fled Nagorno-Karabakh after Azerbaijan’s lightning takeover of the majority
ethnic Armenian enclave.

Last week, an offensive by Baku’s forces established Azerbaijani control over
the breakaway region, forcing ethnic Armenian fighters to disarm.

Tuesday’s meeting in Brussels will be the first such encounter since the
offensive but the leaders of both countries are scheduled to meet next month.

Simon Mordue, chief diplomatic adviser to European Council president Charles
Michel, will chair the talks, Michel’s spokeswoman said.

Azerbaijan and Armenia, along with EU heavyweights France and Germany, will
be represented by their national security advisers.

Several days after the fighting, the first refugees arrived in Armenia on
Sunday and 6,650 people have so far entered, Yerevan said on Monday.

AFP reporters saw the refugees crowding into a humanitarian hub set up in a
local theatre in the city of Goris to register for transport and housing.

“We lived through terrible days,” said Anabel Ghulasyan, 41, from the village
of Rev, known as Shalva in Azeri.

She arrived in Goris with her family by minibus, carrying her belongings in
bags.বিস্তারিত