“I came to Armenia to show the full solidarity of the European Union to Armenia, the Armenian people and, in particular, the people displaced from Karabakh,” EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic said after meeting with Armenian officials and some refugees. He said they “can count on the EU’s full support in this difficult situation.”
“We very quickly mobilized more than 5 million euros in humanitarian aid, doubled it a few days later, and as of today have provided more than 10 million euros ($11 million) in humanitarian aid … In addition, we have mobilized the European Union's stock of humanitarian aid supplies, which will be sent to Armenia in the next few hours,” Lenarcic told a joint news conference with Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatrian.
On top of that, he said, the refugees will receive separate aid from 13 EU member states, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
The head of the EU’s executive Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, discussed this assistance with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Thursday during a meeting held on the sidelines of an EU summit in the Spanish city of Granada. The Commission confirmed after the talks that it will also allocate 15 million euros to help the Armenian government buy food and fuel and address other “socio-economic needs.”
“The EU stands with Armenia,” tweeted von der Leyen. “We condemn Azerbaijan’s military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh.”
It is not clear whether some of the EU aid will be used for providing the refugees with adequate housing, their most urgent need. The Armenian government claims to have accommodated half of them in hotels, disused public buildings and empty village houses. It says the others have told government officials that they will stay with their relatives or have other places of residence in Armenia.
However, there have been multiple reports of refugees remaining homeless days after their evacuation from Karabakh. RFE/RL’s Armenian Service spoke to several such persons outside a government aid center in Parakar, a village just outside Yerevan. They as well as other refugees went there to inquire about a one-off cash payment of 100,000 drams ($245) promised by the government to every displaced Karabakh Armenian.
“We are living in a church courtyard, we have no relatives here,” said Elmira Nersisian, a 74-year-old woman from Stepanakert who fled to Armenia with her disabled daughter. “We didn’t know what to do, who to apply to.”
“If they give us this [financial] aid, we will get by until I find a job,” she said, adding that government officials have pledged to provide them with temporary housing.
The government has also pledged to provide every refugee renting an apartment or house up to 50,000 drams per month for at least six months. The money can only be spent on housing rent and utility fees.