Prime Minister's Evaluations Are Extremely Dangerous for the Vital Rights and National Self-Determination of Armenians in Artsakh: Human Rights Defenders of Armenia and Artsakh

Human rights defenders of Armenia and Artsakh, Arman Tatoyan and Gegham Stepanyan, have issued a statement addressing Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's remarks regarding Artsakh. The statement reads:

“The positions expressed by the Prime Minister of Armenia during the online press conference on December 24, 2021, fundamentally contradict the natural rights necessary for the life and safe existence of Armenians in Artsakh and create fertile ground for Azerbaijani violations. These positions fundamentally endanger the natural right to national self-determination.

The Prime Minister’s public statements completely overlook the fact that the Azerbaijani authorities continue their state-sponsored policy of anti-Armenianism and hostility; this is not merely rhetoric but a policy of hatred that has been consistently implemented over the years in Azerbaijani reality (in education, culture, sports, etc.), and it is especially aggressive toward the people of Artsakh.

The Prime Minister’s statements also ignore that since 1923, Azerbaijani authorities have pursued a systematic policy of discrimination against the 95% Armenian population of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region, involving persecution, dispossession, atrocities, and other illegal means aimed at the depopulation of the area.

The Azerbaijani state policy of hatred and hostility was what led to mass ethnic cleansing in Artsakh during the 2020 war, systematically destroying cities and villages (Stepanakert, Martuni, Shushi, Hadrut, etc.), depriving people of their native homes, and committing acts of torture and brutality, including killing and desecrating churches.

Since the war, Azerbaijani armed forces, under the patronage of the Azerbaijani authorities, continue to violate the vital rights of the people of Artsakh daily, including killing civilians, firing on peaceful settlements, thefts, disrupting vital telephone communication, and committing other terrorist acts. The dignity of people living in Artsakh is trampled on every day.

The same violations and criminal acts continue daily against the population of Armenia as well. In both cases—whether in Artsakh or Armenia—Azerbaijani armed forces operate under conditions of criminal impunity. There are no guarantees for the protection of human rights.

We consider the Prime Minister’s evaluations extremely dangerous; they justify the primacy of political issues over human rights, reinforce Azerbaijani false theses that disregard human rights, and further actualize the dangers of violations of our compatriots' rights—this is exactly what the Azerbaijani authorities have sought for years.

Through this policy, the Azerbaijani authorities have constantly hindered and done everything to isolate Artsakh from the outside world and deprive the Armenians of Artsakh of the protection of their rights, conducting a targeted policy to mislead the international community.

The policy of ignoring national self-determination and vital human rights, as well as obstructing their protection at all costs, has created fertile ground for the atrocities, brutalities, and ethnic cleansing that occurred during the 44-day war.

For the human rights defenders of Armenia and Artsakh, peace is an absolute value, but the peace-loving rhetoric proclaimed by the Azerbaijani authorities is false; it merely aims to present themselves as peaceful to the outside world while masking their true face with deceptions. Thus, we strongly urge everyone to cease the disregard for human rights, which provides fertile ground for Azerbaijani false theses, to exclude the subordination of human rights to political issues, and to refrain from artificially creating obstacles to the protection of our compatriots' rights in international arenas, particularly against the backdrop of Azerbaijani genocidal policies.”