Cyprus, a member of the European Union, announced on Friday that it is exploring ways to host some Armenians if necessary after they fled from the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan. More than three-quarters of the Armenian population, which totals 120,000, had evacuated by Friday after Azerbaijani forces defeated them in a swift attack. The enclave seceded from Azerbaijan in the 1990s. Cyprus has traditionally maintained close ties with Armenia and has a minority of Armenian Christian residents represented in its parliament.
The Cypriot Foreign Ministry stated, "The Cypriot government keeps an open corridor for Armenians and is ready in this context to offer immediate humanitarian aid." The statement continued, "Cyprus is studying, among other matters, ways to host a number of displaced Armenians in our country if necessary." Armenians have lived in Cyprus for centuries, with many tracing their roots back to Armenians or orphans who fled from the mass killings during the Ottoman Empire's rule in 1915, which some governments today recognize as genocide. Turkey acknowledges that many Armenians were killed in clashes with Ottoman forces during World War I but denies that the killings were systematically organized or constituted genocide.
