BRUSSELS: The European Union on Friday called on Azerbaijan to let a United Nations mission visit the Nagorno-Karabakh region “in the next days”, after tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians fled.

“A mass exodus of Karabakh Armenians is currently taking place as a result of Azerbaijan’s military operation of 19 and 20 September and of the previous months-long blockage of the Lachin corridor,” an EU spokesman said in a statement.

“People are fleeing their homes in Nagorno-Karabakh and are finding refuge in Armenia.”

The statement said Azerbaijan was responsible for securing the rights and security of Armenians on the territory, including guaranteeing they can stay in their homes and those displaced can return.

“It is essential that a UN mission can access the territory within the next days,” Brussels said.

Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of “ethnic cleansing” after it seized back control of the breakaway territory, and last week called on the UN to send in a mission.

Baku has denied that it is driving the Armenian residents out of Nagorno-Karabakh and has publicly urged them to remain and “reintegrate” into Azerbaijan.

Some 90,000 refugees, or three quarters of the estimated population, have so far flooded out of the region into Armenia since Azerbaijan ended three decades of separatist rule.