Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will meet Azeri President Ilham Aliyev today as Armenians flee the breakaway enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh following a lightning-fast Azeri military operation that turned the tide in the South Caucasus.

Armenians in Karabakh, a territory recognized internationally as part of Azerbaijan, were forced into a ceasefire last week following a 24-hour military operation by the much stronger Azeri armed forces.

The leadership of the 120,000 Armenians who call Karabakh their homeland told Reuters yesterday, Sunday, that these people do not want to live as part of Azerbaijan and will leave for Armenia because they fear persecution and ethnic cleansing.

As of 05:00 this morning (04:00 Greek time), more than 2,900 people from Nagorno-Karabakh had crossed into Armenian territory, the Armenian government announced as it rushed to prepare to welcome thousands of refugees.

Erdogan will pay a one-day visit to Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan enclave – a strip of Azeri territory between Armenia, Iran and Turkey – to discuss the situation in the Karabakh region with Aliyev, the Turkish president’s office announced.

“Bilateral relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan will be discussed, as well as views on current global and regional issues, especially the latest developments in Azerbaijan,” the presidency announced.

The two presidents will participate in a ceremony for a gas pipeline, which will bring gas to Nakhchivan, and inaugurate a military installation in the enclave, which was recently modernized, the Turkish presidency said.

In the capital of Karabakh – Stepanakert for Armenia, Khankendi for Azerbaijan – those who had fuel started yesterday, Sunday evening, to take the Lachin corridor towards the border with Armenia in their cars, according to a Reuters journalist.

Reuters photos show dozens of cars leaving the capital heading for this mountain corridor.