State Dept: Washington does not have clear assessment of whether what  happened in Nagorno-Karabakh was immigration or ethnic cleansing

ArmInfo.Until the completion of an independent investigation, Washington does not have a clear  assessment of whether what happened in Nagorno-Karabakh was immigration or ethnic cleansing. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James O'Brien told RFE/RL's Armenian Service.

"We have stated that we will conduct an independent investigation  into what happened in September 2023 (in Nagorno-Karabakh, ed. note),  as well as beyond. We are currently busy with this. Responsible  international organizations have access to these places and can  provide us with the necessary information," the official added. He  called on Yerevan and Baku to answer the question themselves about  whether there is a need to dissolve the OSCE Minsk Group. O'Brien  assured that neither side has asked the United States for guarantees.

"What role we can or cannot play is up to both sides to decide. We  are not claiming to be a superpower in the region. We are here to  support the legitimate desire of the peoples of the region to  conclude a long-term peace agreement. At this stage, the parties are  talking to each other quite well directly," the American official  concluded.

On  September 19, 2023, Azerbaijan, under the pretext of an   "anti-terrorist operation," undertook another act of aggression   against Artsakh. As a result of enemy aggression, hundreds of Artsakh   residents were injured, and more than 200 deaths were reported,   including civilians. On September 20, Artsakh fell.  Azerbaijan began   the forcible subjugation of the NKR. In addition, on September 20,   late in the evening it became known that Azerbaijan had deliberately   shot two vehicles of the Russian peacekeeping contingent, killing 6   people, including the deputy commander of the RPC. On September 22,   the process of abolishing the Artsakh Defense Army began. During   search operations from September 21 to 24, the NKR Ministry of   Internal Affairs discovered the bodies of 105 Artsakh residents,   including brutally murdered children and elderly people. Today   Artsakh is completely de-Armenized; its entire indigenous population,   over 100 thousand people, was forced to flee to Armenia under the   threat of physical violence.  On September 25, near Stepanakert, an  explosion occurred at a fuel  warehouse, and a tank with gasoline  exploded. At the time of the explosion, there were a large number of  people on site who were  queuing for gasoline to leave Artsakh amid  the latest Azerbaijani aggression. According to the Investigative  Committee of Armenia218  people were killed from an explosion at a  fuel warehouse, 215 of them were identified. At least 120 people  received injuries of varying  severity, mainly in the form of burns.  At the moment, according to  the investigation, the whereabouts of 21  people are unknown.  Since the enemy aggression that began in the  fall of 2020, which  ended in September of this year with the  complete ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, over 150 thousand Artsakh  residents have become homeless.