VIDEO: Prime Minister Blames Russian Peacekeepers and UN for Ethnic Cleansing in Artsakh

The Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, has accused the Russian peacekeeping forces and the United Nations of contributing to the ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh. He made this statement in Strasbourg while addressing the European Parliament.

“Due to the inaction of the Russian peacekeeping forces, more than 100,000 Armenians left their homes and homeland within a week. An additional 24,000 were forced to leave immediately after the 44-day war, and some could not return to Nagorno-Karabakh due to the illegal blockade of the Lachin corridor in 2022. Now some pretend not to understand why Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh left their homes in such large numbers. Such a question is itself cynicism, as the answer is quite clear: Azerbaijan openly demonstrated its decision to make the lives of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh impossible when it illegally closed the Lachin corridor in 2022,” said Pashinyan.

According to him, it is exceedingly painful that despite hundreds of calls, decisions by the International Court of Justice, the Council of Europe, the European Parliament, and resolutions adopted by individual countries, the international community failed to prevent the ethnic cleansing of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“Armenia has repeatedly called for the establishment of a fact-finding group in Nagorno-Karabakh, but no organization has made such a decision. We initiated three discussions on this topic in the UN Security Council, but they produced no practical results, and now Nagorno-Karabakh is ethnically cleansed,” he emphasized.

He added that Armenia now requires international assistance, including budgetary support, to address the needs of forcibly displaced Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh. “Today, some pretend not to understand why Armenians left their homes in mass. Such a question is itself a form of cynicism, as the answer is exceedingly clear: Azerbaijan has unequivocally shown its determination to make the lives of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh impossible,” the Prime Minister reiterated. Pashinyan declared that he does not accept the surprised faces of some international officials regarding the displacement that occurred in Nagorno-Karabakh in September.