Azerbaijan said it wanted ethnic Armenians to remain in Nagorno-Karabakh.

"We call on Armenian residents not to leave their homes and become part of Azerbaijan's multi-ethnic society," the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said.

It comes as more than half of the region's population fled to Armenia since Azerbaijan lifted a nine-month blockade against the region on Sunday.

Azerbaijan took back control of Nagorno-Karabakh last week in a military operation.

It said if people in the region "do not want to live and obey Azerbaijan's legislation and rule, we cannot force them to do so," adding it had "nothing to do with forced relocation."