Let’s not forget the Azeris who had to flee their homes earlier, says Alexis Rowell. And Gascia Ouzounian on why ethnic Armenians had to leave the region now
Your reporting on the Karabakh Armenian exodus (‘It’s a ghost town’: UN arrives in Nagorno-Karabakh to find ethnic Armenians have fled, 2 October) does not reflect the trauma felt by Azeris when they were forced out of their homes across the disputed territory and from large swathes of Azerbaijan proper in 1992-94. I understand why the emphasis is on the tragic exodus of Karabakh Armenians from their ancestral homes, and I am no fan of Azerbaijan’s autocracy, but I was in the region in 1992-94, reporting for the Guardian and the BBC, and I think some perspective is in order.
I watched thousands of Azeris fleeing with all their worldly possessions on foot over mountains and across plains in the face of the Armenian advance in 1992-94. By some calculations, 800,000 Azeris lost their homes in Karabakh, the surrounding areas of Azerbaijan and Armenia during the 1988-94 period.
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