CIVIL SOCIETY NETWORK ‘REFUGEES AND INTERNATIONAL LAW’ CONCERNED WITH APPROACHES OF OSCE MG CO-CHAIRS, AZERI AUTHORITIES AND LEADERSHIPS OF ARMENIA AND NAGORNO-KARABAKH

ArmInfo
2009-03-19 15:18:00

ArmInfo. The Civil Society Network "Refugees and International Law"
expresses its concern with the approaches published at the current
stage of the Karabakh peace process by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs,
Azerbaijani authorities, as well as with the position of leaderships
of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

"Within the frames of their latest visit to the region, the Minsk
Group co-chairs again distorted the essence of the problem of refugees
and represented it exclusively in the context of Azeri’s return to
the place of the former residence in the currently state territory
of the NKR, the mediators didn’t even remember the necessity to
protect the rights and interests of half a million Armenian refugees
from Azerbaijan. We remind all the peace process participants that
according to official statistics, the number of refugees registered
in Azerbaijan totals only 8 thsd people, and most of them are not
Azeris. The co-chairs also "revived" the dead-born idea that the NKR
participation in the peace process will be possible only in case
of full-fledged participation of the public organization called
"Azerbaijani community of Nagorno- Karabakh". The logic of the
co-chairs’ proposals says that all Azeris who left the places of
their former residence being currently in the NKR territory should
return there, and only those Azeris who lived in the territory of
the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region will be considered the
Azeri Community of NK. Not a single word was said about the rights of
indigenous population of the Armenian North Artsakh, or at least about
the necessity to provide dozens of thousands of Armenian residents,
who had become part of the NKR, with the right to return to their
native Shahumyan region and Getashen subregion currently occupied by
Azerbaijan. It is noteworthy that when the Armenian foreign minister is
asked about the fate of Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan, he evades
the answer justifying his behavior by the necessity to observe the
confidentiality about the peace process details. "We state that the
problem of protection of rights of Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan
should have special significance for officials of Armenia and the NKR,
who are somehow or other engaged in the peace process. We also demand
that all the peace process details related to this problem should
be completely declassified and available for the public, this will
allow suppressing possible implementation of any shady deal at the
price of violation of interests of our half a million compatriots",-
the statement says.