The factions of the Artsakh Parliament issued a joint appeal on Wednesday, calling on the international community to rally against Azerbaijan’s ongoing human rights abuses and the ethnic cleansing campaign that resulted in the forced exodus of Armenians from Artsakh.
The appeal echoed similar efforts launched by the Armenian National Committee International and by the first prosecutor general of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo, who issued a similar call for action as Baku prepared to host the United Nations Climate Summit, known as the COP29, in November.
Below is a translated text of the statement.
From November 11 to 22, 2024, the UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) is slated to take place Baku, to which leaders of various countries, official delegations, persons in charge of international organizations, and many journalists have an invitation to participate.
It is quite obvious that Baku is using this conference to mislead the world community and divert public opinion from the environmental and ecological crimes of its country. There is also no doubt that the indifferent approach of the officials and institutions invited to the said conference to the crimes committed by Azerbaijan will be considered by the leadership of that country as encouragement to perpetrate and continue more crimes, such as:
- The ethnic cleansing of Armenians undertaken by Azerbaijan in Artsakh in September 2023 as genocide and a crime against humanity.
- The invasion of the territory of the Republic of Armenia and the pressure on the Armenia with the threat of using force.
- The false accusations against, the treatment, and the uncertain fate of Artsakh military and political leaders and other captives taken hostage by Baku.
The ongoing anti-Armenian policy by Azerbaijan, which is also expressed by the active steps of destroying, usurping, and falsifying the identity of Artsakh’s rich Armenian historical and cultural heritage.
Covering up of these actions under the name of the UN Climate Change Conference, global issues affecting humanity, will only deepen the atmosphere of mistrust and instability imposed by Azerbaijan on the South Caucasus region under the threat of the 44-day war in 2020, the complete blockade and genocide, occupation of the Republic of Artsakh, and through its complete “de-Armenianization.”
We call on all Armenians and the countries of the region, organizations, and individuals interested in peace, to join the campaign started by Armenian National Committee-International and the [first] Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo, to expose the insidious intentions of Azerbaijan in the media, social networks and personal communications, and call on the international community to wake up.
