YEREVAN. - The remaining Armenians in Azerbaijan are afraid of admitting their nationality, Armenian ethnographer Hranush Kharatyan said at a press conference on Friday.

Commenting on the question of the Armenian News - NEWS.am reporter whether Azerbaijani officials’ statements that a large number of Armenians reside in Azerbaijan are true, Kharatyan said the official figures do not correspond to reality.

“According to official census, as many as 120,000 Armenians ‘live’ in Azerbaijan. However, this includes the population of Nagorno-Karabakh [which is a sovereign state]. Our data shows that in reality 2,500-3,000 Armenians currently live in Azerbaijan,” she said.

According to her, mostly married women, who are trying to hide their Armenian roots, have changed residence in order to hide traces and break the link with the old neighbors.

Armenians in Azerbaijan have a very difficult life, many cannot get job because of their nationality.

“It’s very hard to be an Armenian in Azerbaijan. People are afraid to communicate. The situation resembles the one that exists in Turkey after the Armenian Genocide when there were ‘hidden Armenians’,” said Kharatyan.