ROME (Reuters) – Armenia has asked the European Union for assistance to help it deal with refugees arriving from Nagorno-Karabakh since Azerbaijan took back control of the region last week, the office of Italy’s prime minister said on Saturday.
Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but is populated mainly by Armenian Christians who set up the self-styled Republic of Artsakh three decades ago after a bloody ethnic conflict as the Soviet Union collapsed.
More than 100,000 refugees have arrived in Armenia since Azerbaijan launched a military operation to retake control of Nagorno-Karabakh, the head of the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) said late on Friday.
Armenia has asked the EU for temporary shelters and medical supplies, the Italian prime minister’s office said in a statement, adding that Rome working to promote stabilisation in the region.
(Reporting by Angelo Amante; Writing by Gianluca Semeraro; Editing by Helen Popper)
