How Can a Reasonable Person Believe That Azerbaijan Can Ensure Rights and Security? – Artsakh Human Rights Defender

Aliyev's statements are a clear indication that all discussions about ensuring the rights and security of the people of Artsakh are mere empty talk. This was stated by Gegham Stepanyan, the Human Rights Defender of Artsakh, on his Facebook page.

The statehood of the Republic of Artsakh and its state institutions were formed as a result of the will of the Artsakh people through the realization of their natural right to self-determination and are aimed at serving the fundamental rights and freedoms of the Artsakh people.

The latest statements by the President of Azerbaijan and the threats contained within them once again reveal the hidden goals behind the Azerbaijani promises of “ensuring rights and security” during negotiations.

Aliyev's statements should serve as a signal for all parties involved in the resolution of the conflict that without recognizing the right of the Artsakh people to self-determination, discussions about ensuring other rights and freedoms are baseless and disconnected from reality. Moreover, these discussions are being used by Azerbaijan to mask its agenda of hatred against Armenians and its policy of ethnic cleansing towards the Artsakh people.

How can a reasonable person believe that a perpetrator of brutal killings of civilians, a wartime aggressor against Armenian cultural values and even Armenian graves, or Azerbaijan, which has deliberately kept the people of Artsakh under siege for about six months, leaving them without gas and electricity, can ensure rights and security?

The realities are clearer than ever: Azerbaijan does not even conceal its intentions. I remind all those sides that, despite understanding these clear truths, ignore them or deliberately engage in self-deception, that the international community has a responsibility to prevent crimes against humanity as a collective community, and the failure of that responsibility is everyone's complicity.