After displacement: The long road ahead for Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians

For Gnel Hakobyan, the journey out of Nagorno-Karabakh was an ordeal that continues to haunt him. The trip from his village to Zorakan, in Armenia’s Tavush region, lasted two days, but its psychological aftermath has never ended. Hakobyan says the experience returns like a daily nightmare through sleepless, sombre nights. ‘I was displaced from Karabakh on 29 September 2023. My family and I spent two days and nights inside our car, hungry, thirsty and exhausted. My mother was in poor health, and we were all gripped by anxiety and fear,’ he told FairPlanet in an interview.

Like many displaced Armenians, he remains preoccupied with one question: will he ever be able to return to his ancestral home?

‘Every day, I think about my village left behind and the people who lived there, now scattered across different parts of Armenia,’ he said.

Rebuilding his life in Armenia has also meant confronting an economic reality far removed from the one he knew in Nagorno-Karabakh. Hakobyan was offered manual work paying AMD 2,000 (about US$5) a day. His monthly rent stood at AMD 170,000 (about US$470), and he had four children to support. Before displacement, he had served in the army and earned a significantly higher salary.

His experience reflects the challenges facing more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians who fled Nagorno-Karabakh following Azerbaijan’s September 2023 military offensive. The exodus followed a nine-month blockade that severely restricted access to essential supplies. The region’s de facto authorities subsequently announced the dissolution of its institutions, effective 1 January 2024.

Nearly three years later, the emergency has given way to a longer struggle for permanent housing, stable employment, legal security and a sense of belonging.

From emergency aid to integration

The Armenian government has introduced programmes covering housing, employment and social assistance. Its housing programme provides certificates to purchase or build homes. Employment initiatives offer vocational training, work placements and employer incentives, while a self-employment programme provides business training, grants and mentoring. Social assistance has also been extended to vulnerable families.

However, international organisations warn that substantial gaps remain between these measures and displaced people’s needs.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) runs a 2024–2026 programme with the government and national partners that has provided documentation, legal assistance and referrals. A joint UNHCR and International Organization for Migration (IOM) labour assessment found that around 25,000 displaced people were formally employed by early 2025, while durable housing, specialised disability services and employment outside Yerevan remained significant challenges.

Human Rights Watch’s World Report 2026 highlighted difficulties in providing adequate social protection, particularly as rental subsidies were phased out. Following a February 2026 visit, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O’Flaherty called for sustained support, citing housing shortages, documentation and citizenship difficulties, insufficient consultation and the absence of a comprehensive integration strategy.

Housing remains out of reach

The Regional Center for Democracy and Security estimated that by 15 December 2025, approximately 1,600 displaced families had purchased homes, compared with a potential pool of up to 30,000 families. It recommended redesigning rental assistance rather than simply withdrawing it as housing programmes expand.

The Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor (HCA Vanadzor), in its March 2026 assessment, also documented continuing problems involving property rights, pensions, social assistance, administrative procedures and documentation.

For families unable to secure permanent housing, rental costs can undermine other efforts to establish a stable life.

Citizenship brings new uncertainty

For displaced people, the question is not only where they will live but also what legal status they will retain.

Larisa Alaverdyan, Armenia’s first Human Rights Defender (ombudsperson, 2004–2006) and executive director of the NGO Against Legal Arbitrary Treatment, told FairPlanet in a telephone interview that the legal position of forcibly displaced Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians remains problematic. She argues that their status has not been clearly resolved within the international refugee-protection framework, including the 1951 Refugee Convention.

Armenia introduced a special temporary-protection regime under Government Decision No. 1864-N, extended until 31 December 2026. People covered by the regime can apply for Armenian citizenship, but cannot simultaneously retain this special temporary-protection status.

‘Not all displaced people have received, or will receive, refugee status,’ Alaverdyan warns. She says some fear that acquiring Armenian citizenship could mean losing their status as forcibly displaced people and, potentially, associated claims and rights.

In a phone interview with FairPlanet, Gegham Stepanyan, the former Human Rights Defender of Nagorno-Karabakh, cited figures indicating that approximately 35 percent of displaced Karabakh Armenians were considering leaving Armenia—most commonly for Russia—while 65 percent intended to stay, and half were dissatisfied with their living conditions. Asked to clarify the
source of the unpublished survey, Stepanyan declined to name the commissioning organisation, stating only that it was a representative study conducted by a reputable international body and shared privately with relevant stakeholders.

Russia’s prominence as a potential destination is particularly striking given its longstanding role as Armenia’s security ally and a key mediator in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Following the 2020 war, Moscow deployed peacekeepers to the region but failed to prevent Azerbaijan’s September 2023 offensive and the mass displacement of its ethnic Armenian population. The exodus effectively ended the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh, which had operated for decades but was internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan. Despite Russia’s failure to protect the region’s Armenian population, its established diaspora networks and economic ties may help explain why displaced Armenians continue to consider it a potential destination.

Nare Simonyan, a civil-society activist and human-rights defender, described difficulties involving identity documents and passports. In a telephone interview with FairPlanet, she explained that some displaced people encountered problems seeking employment after being asked to choose between Armenian citizenship and temporary-protection status.

Lawyer Hovhannes Khudoyan, speaking to FairPlanet by phone, noted that the citizenship requirement came as a ‘surprise’ to people who had always considered themselves Armenian citizens. Some, he added, would prefer to retain their Nagorno-Karabakh passports.

The debate intensified after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s March 2026 address to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, in which he urged displaced Armenians to obtain citizenship and settle permanently in Armenia rather than nurture ‘false hopes’ of returning. Simonyan criticised the approach, arguing that it amounted to a state-level call to abandon the possibility of a dignified return.

Disability and employment expose deeper gaps

Displaced people with disabilities face additional barriers. Armenia has no separate disability policy specifically for this population, leaving them to navigate the general system. According to World Vision Armenia’s November 2023 data, 16 per cent of the 101,848 Karabakh Armenians who sought refuge in Armenia had disabilities. The high percentage partly reflects the legacy of previous wars, as many displaced families have been affected by conflict over several decades. In many families, at least one member – and sometimes two or more – has participated in past wars, with some sustaining war-related injuries or disabilities.

Gagik Stepanyan, who has a Group II disability, told FairPlanet that his status was initially reinstated but later not confirmed following reassessment. He consequently lost his AMD 40,000 (about US$110) monthly pension and access to rental assistance for displaced people with disabilities.

Mher Nalbandyan, who has a Group I disability, lives with his family in a rented house in Abovyan. No family member is employed. His mother, Anush, said the caregiving benefit she had received in Karabakh was reduced after displacement. Mher now receives AMD 46,000 a month.

‘How are we supposed to use that money – to buy medicines or to cover our other social needs?’ she asks.

Employment is particularly difficult outside Yerevan, where wages and opportunities can be limited. Hripsime Nersisyan, formerly employed in Karabakh’s service sector, rejected a bakery job because the salary was too low. Bella Manukyan, who has been searching for work for a long time, said employers had sometimes told her a position was filled after learning that she was displaced from Karabakh.

Beyond refuge

The experiences of displaced families reveal the limits of assistance programmes that do not translate into lasting security. Permanent housing, adequate income, disability support, accessible documentation and legal certainty remain unresolved for many.

For Gnel Hakobyan, the future also remains tied to the village and community he left behind. His question about returning reflects a wider uncertainty that financial assistance alone cannot resolve.

Nearly three years after the exodus, the challenge is not simply whether Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians have found refuge in Armenia. It is whether that refuge can become a secure and dignified future.