Artsakh Human Rights Defender Issues Statement

The criminal and brazen behavior of Azerbaijan is a slap in the face to all civilized humanity, which continues to remain stubbornly silent. This was stated by Gegham Stepanyan, the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Artsakh, in his announcement.

“The genocidal actions against the Armenian population of Artsakh at the beginning of the 20th century, the 70-year persecution of the Armenians after the forced annexation of Artsakh to Soviet Azerbaijan in 1921, the systematic discrimination and open, directed steps of ethnic hatred, the genocidal acts organized in Sumgait, Baku, Ganja-Kirovabad and other places since 1988 to force the self-determination of the Armenian people, the forced war in the 1990s, the April 2016 aggression, the 44-day war filled with military crimes in 2020, and all the criminal actions of Azerbaijan's military-political leadership since November 9, 2020, are attempts to nullify the collective measures undertaken by the international community over decades to prevent such scale crimes after the Second World War,” noted the Artsakh Human Rights Defender.

Gegham Stepanyan emphasized that Azerbaijan is openly and publicly conducting a “masterclass” on the destruction, displacement, and dispossession of a specific ethnic group, failing to even issue a condemning statement. This is why Azerbaijan develops its arsenal almost daily, creating tools and means for committing crimes. This is also why today Azerbaijani armed forces openly violate the provisions of the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, daring to seize peaceful settlements, leaving 120,000 residents of Artsakh without heating and hot water, forcibly displacing them—this could be listed endlessly,” stated the Artsakh Human Rights Defender.

Stepanyan further highlighted that the Azerbaijani claims regarding the cessation of gas supply and the resulting humanitarian crisis are reminiscent of the assertions made by the leadership of Nazi Germany during the Nuremberg trials to justify mass crimes.

“Dear representatives of the international community, the facts and evidence are more than sufficient to activate the ‘responsibility to protect’ norm designed to prevent and stop genocidal and crimes against humanity, to recognize the Republic of Artsakh, and to save the Armenian population of Artsakh from being subjected to ethnic cleansing and genocide. There is simply no other option; finally understand, criminals are punished, not negotiated with,” added the Artsakh Human Rights Defender.