“Artsakh Residents Must Live in Their Own Homes in Armenia and Adapt to a New Life in Their Homeland,” Says Tovmasyan

Member of Parliament Taguhi Tovmasyan wrote on her Facebook page: “During my meetings with all international colleagues and in daily discussions of various formats, I continuously present the catastrophic situation surrounding Artsakh Armenians, highlighting the urgent need to address issues such as the internally displaced persons.

Through all possible channels, we must urgently find solutions to the housing problems of Artsakh Armenians residing in the territory of the Republic of Armenia. An Artsakh resident must live in their own home in Armenia and adapt to a new life in their homeland. The funds allocated to Armenia for the resettlement of Artsakh Armenians should be used to purchase houses for people. We must not allow their emigration.

Clear and visible efforts must be made to ensure the health, education, and employment preservation (finding) of Artsakh Armenians. International mandate observers must be deployed in Artsakh as soon as possible. This way, we will try to ensure the protection of the property rights of Artsakh Armenians and neutralize the likelihood of destruction of properties belonging to citizens and the state. Guarantees must also be established so that people can safely manage or remove their own property as they wish.

The preservation of Armenian cultural and religious heritage is imperative. Both the Russian peacekeepers currently in Artsakh and the international observers must prevent the repetition of the criminal scenario of desecration and destruction of the Holy Savior Ghazanchetsots Church in Shushi and other Armenian religious monuments. Armenian graves must remain inviolable and protected from Azerbaijani atrocities.

If there are still soldiers of the Defense Army in Artsakh or former and current officials (with their families), they should be able to live either in Artsakh, if they wish, or exit without persecution, unopposed and safely. They must be able to live in the Republic of Armenia or elsewhere without artificial obstacles and baseless criminal persecutions.

The freedom of our compatriots Ruben Vardanyan, Levon Mnatsakanyan, Davit Manukyan, Davit Babayan, and others is our collective responsibility, an EVERYDAY TASK. All actors in the world must have substantiated data at their disposal to declare that Azerbaijan’s so-called ‘anti-terror operations,’ which began on September 19 and proceeded with the ethnic cleansing and genocide of the peaceful population of besieged Artsakh for 9 months, demonstrate not only Azerbaijan's false humanitarianism and the impossibility of peaceful coexistence with them but also the fact that the condemnatory statements of international actors hold little value.

We must all make efforts to ensure that condemnatory statements are replaced with concrete actions to support the recognition of the right of the people of Artsakh to self-determination, which I have repeatedly emphasized from international platforms, as well as impose specific sanctions on Azerbaijan as a genocidal, aggressor state.

In all corners of the world, we must make our voice heard that Azerbaijan, which has committed genocide against Artsakh, is seeking to repeat the same scenario against independent, sovereign Armenia. Azerbaijan has not returned the territories occupied from Armenia for 3 years, and it remains unpunished. I do not rely on the incapable and miserable government of Nikol Pashinyan. We must all work around these points in our respective places for the sake of our people and homeland, which is heavily wounded.”