Friday, October 27 2023 22:30

ArmInfo.The Azerbaijani authorities confiscated the Armenian passports of those who remained  in Artsakh and the l aren't allowed to speak to their loved ones without being monitored. American journalist Lindsey Snell wrote on her X (formerly Twitter).

"A month after Azerbaijan attacked and ethnically cleansed  Nagorno-Karabakh, Cory Popp and I spoke to the daughter of one of the  very few people who stayed behind. Azerbaijani state media recently  bragged about AZ establishing local telecom services, but the  Armenians who stayed in NK don't have internet or mobile connections,  and they aren't allowed to speak to their loved ones without being  monitored. And as part of AZ's "reintegration" facade, AZ authorities  confiscated the Armenian passports of those who remained, but haven't  issued Azerbaijani passports to them. This means the Armenians who  stayed in NK are currently stateless, " the journalist noted,  publishing a video of the conversation.

Further, in the video published by the journalist, a woman from  Artsakh, whose voice has been changed and her face is covered, talks  about how she cannot convince her father to leave Nagorno-Karabakh.

"Initially, he didn't want to leave at all. He said that he built a  house here and didn't want to leave it, no matter what. At the end of  September, when my mother was supposed to leave, my father said that  he would catch up with us. He would stay here for 3-4 month, he wants  to become an eyewitness to this "reintegration". So, I'm waiting for  him, we're waiting for him. Initially, when I tried to convince him  to leave, I said, "You understand that then you simply won't be able  to leave, they won't let you out, because "that the Azerbaijani  authorities, roughly speaking, need a monkey in the zoo to show as an  exhibit to representatives of the ICRC, the UN, and journalists."

There has been no communication since October 1st. After 5-6 days my  father called. We were very worried. He visited the ICRC office  there, where there is Wi-Fi, and called us. He said everything was  fine, the ICRC was giving him food. Since then, he calls either me or  his mother once a week. The last two times I called from an  Azerbaijani number. I didn't speak for a long time. Dad doesn't speak  for long, up to 10 minutes, because there is always someone next to  him.

He doesn't tell us what the situation is there, and that's right.  That is, next to them are not ours, and these are neither Europeans  nor Russians.Their Armenian passports were taken away and their  Azerbaijani passports were not given. Initially, they said that there  were about 100 people there, but there are fewer of them. There are  30-40 people in Stepanakert, in other areas there are some more, but  in general there will not be 100 people. The city is empty, police  officers patrol it. As I understand it, soldiers are not allowed,"  the woman said.