Armenian lawmaker Armen Gevorgyan, a member of the opposition Hayastan Alliance and a member of the Armenian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, urged the international body to immediately take urgent action regarding the fate of Armenian being held captive by Azerbaijan.
Speaking at the PACE Committee on Social, Health and Sustainable Development in Paris on Friday, Gevorgyan pointed out that the body was quick to adopt a measure regarding the treatment of Palestinians, and urged his colleagues to similarly act, in order to prevent a genocide of Armenians of Artsakh.
“Today, I would like to present to you the catastrophic situation in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), occupied by Azerbaijan, which is effectively ignored by the international community and is becoming the ‘new norm’. After the ethnic cleansing of Armenians and the occupation of Armenian lands, Ilham Aliyev has continued his genocidal policy towards Armenians, the aim of which is to exclude their return to their historical homeland,” Gevorgyan said in his statement.
“A number of Armenian churches, memorial complexes dedicated to Armenian history, cultural centers, libraries and schools, hundreds of khachkars have already been destroyed. Armenian spiritual centers are being desecrated, more than 30 art and museum collections have been looted. About a dozen Armenian settlements have also been destroyed. In recent years, more than 24,000 Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh have already left the region,” he added.
“I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the right of Karabakh Armenians to return to their historical homeland remains unfulfilled due to the shameful trials of Armenian prisoners in Baku. This is psychological violence against Armenians, who are told: if your leaders are in such a state, imagine what will happen to you if you decide to return to Karabakh. These people are being tried in Baku first of all because they are Armenians, Christians. They are being humiliated because, being leaders of a small but proud nation, they have managed to live in a free and democratic society for more than 30 years, resisting authoritarian Azerbaijan. They do not lose their dignity and courage, which is why they are subjected to torture and humiliation,” Gevorgyan emphasized.
“The Azerbaijani authoritarian regime, abeted by Western petrodollars, is actually destroying the traces of Armenian civilization in Artsakh. This is a continuation of the new Armenian Genocide that began in Nakhichevan in the mid-20th century,” he said.
“The international norms, mechanisms and institutions designed to eliminate the catastrophic situation developing in Artsakh are not functioning at all. Azerbaijan is deliberately violating and ignoring the decisions of international courts, and the international community is showing obvious indifference to the issue of ensuring the rights of 150,000 Armenians to return to their historical homeland,” Gevorgyan outlined.
“The fact that numerous international humanitarian, human rights and media offices are being shuttered in Baku should also cause great concern. Thus, the ICRC, four UN agencies, Transparency International are suspending their activities, and the BBC office has been closed. It is obvious that all this is being done to close the topic of the return of Artsakh Armenians and prepare new provocations for further destabilization of regional security,” the lawmaker stressed.
“I ask you to support my appeal to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, the President of PACE and the High Commissioner for Human Rights to immediately take the situation related to Armenian prisoners in Baku under control, to send a special envoy there to discuss with Azerbaijan its international obligations and to force it to fulfill them,” Gevorgyan urged his colleagues.
