YEREVAN, January 17. TASS/. More than 36,000 displaced persons from Nagorno-Karabakh have applied for refugee status at the Armenian Interior Ministry’s Migration Department, the press service said.

"As of January 16, 36,200 applications [from former Nagorno-Karabakh residents] have been received," the press service said.

On September 19, 2023, tensions flared up again in Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku announced it was launching what it described as "local anti-terrorist measures" and demanded the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the region. Yerevan, in turn, said there were no Armenian forces in Karabakh, calling what was happening "an act of large-scale aggression."

On September 20, an agreement on the cessation of hostilities was reached. On September 21, representatives of Baku and the Armenian population of Karabakh met in the Azerbaijani city of Yevlakh "to discuss reintegration issues."

On September 28, Nagorno-Karabakh Republic President Samvel Shahramanyan signed a decree officially dissolving the unrecognized state effective January 1, 2024. The local ethnic Armenian population has been advised to consider the reintegration proposals being put forward by Baku and decide for themselves whether to remain or to relocate to nearby Armenia.