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After 35 years of war, Azerbaijan has seized Nagorno-Karabakh, a region at the heart of a dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

The result is that thousands of people have fled the area fearing violence against the more than 120,000 ethnic Armenians.

Armenia's ambassador at large, Edmon Marukyan, says that the government had issued 48,000 places to people trying to leave Nagorno-Karabakh.

He is expecting every ethnic Armenian in the region to leave the region: "If this goes on, then of course I think they will come, all of them, they will leave the country. But also I have concerns that at some point Azerbaijan will not allow them to leave."

Edmon Marukyan said Azerbaijan authorities are currently checking those who leave and "there are rumours they are also going to arrest some people".

Azerbaijan has said it wants to re-integrate the ethnic Armenians as "equal citizens".

(Photo: Thousands of ethnic Armenians flee breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Credit: EPA, Narek Aleksanyan)

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