Power, who was accompanied by U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasian Affairs Yuri Kim, arrived in Yerevan amid an intensifying exodus of Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian population that followed last week’s military offensive launched by Azerbaijan. She said at the start of her trip that she will “speak directly with those impacted by the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh.”
The crisis was high on the agenda of the U.S. officials’ talks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian held later in the day. In her opening remarks at the talks, Power said the USAID is ready to help Armenian authorities provide the arriving refugees with accommodation and other assistance. She said Washington will also “encourage other countries to do the same.”
Power handed Pashinian a letter from U.S. President Joe Biden in which the latter pledged to work with the Armenian government in addressing “humanitarian needs stemming from the recent violence in Nagorno-Karabakh.” The USAID chief will discuss details of that assistance during her visit, wrote Biden.
“The United States is deeply concerned about reports on the humanitarian conditions in Nagorno-Karabakh and calls for unimpeded access for international humanitarian organizations and commercial traffic,” the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan said in a statement on the trip.
According to the Armenian government, just over 5,600 Karabakh Armenians fled to Armenia by 5 p.m. local time. The more than 100,000 others remaining in Karabakh are expected to follow suit in the coming days.
Meeting with Power and Kim, Pashinian said the exodus is the result of “ethnic cleansing” carried out by Azerbaijan. The international community failed to prevent it despite repeated warnings by Yerevan, he said.
“Tensions in our region continue to rise, and it is crucial now to take concrete steps to prevent further escalation and even bigger problems,” Pashinian told the visiting U.S. officials.