Azerbaijan takes control of Nagorno Karabakh, experts fear …

LONDON – Armenia Y Azerbaijan engaged in fierce fights for Nagorno Karabakh – an internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan ruled by ethnic Armenians, which declared itself the Republic of Artsakh – for decades. However war that broke this week was the most serious since the 2016 battle.

Both sides have deployed heavy artillery, tanks and drones, and more than 100 people, including civilians, have been killed so far.

Faced with this situation, fear arose among the experts. They assessed that there would be ethnic cleansing if Azerbaijan managed to control Nagorno Karabakh.

There are around 150,000 people living in Nagorno-Karabakh, a majority ethnic Armenians who fear violence if Azerbaijani troops take control of the region. Observers have warned that ethnic cleansing is a possibility.(Read also: Outbreaks of war in Nagorno Karabakh, OCI curses Armenian ‘aggression’)

“It’s quite realistic,” said Laurence Broers, a Caucasian analyst at Britain’s Chatham House think tank.

“I can understand there are concerns about this,” he added.

There is a dark history of ethnic violence and ethnic cleansing between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which took place in Nagorno-Karabakh between 1988 and 1994 amid the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Broers says ethnic cleansing is a feature of the conflict.

“I think it’s part of what people expect, in a terrible and very disturbing way,” he said. Newsweek, Friday (02/10/2020).