“Vahan Martirosyan, who was repeatedly persecuted in Armenia, was forced to leave his homeland. He continued his peacekeeping ideas after moving to Ukraine”, says the statement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Platform for Peace, APA reports.
However, a group of criminals which established their power based on the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno Karabakh conflict, opposing to application of international norms and principles to this conflict and showing interest in maintaining the existing status-quo, found Vahan Martirosyan in Ukraine. “Vahan Martirosyan facing pressure from people, who continue the occupation policy and don’t want peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, addressed a video to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Platform for Peace. He repeatedly mentioned European Institutions and International organizations in the message and it is clear evidence that the cooperation between the Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Platform and these organizations cause concern of people, who don’t want peace between the two nations. European parliamentarians' visit to the region, support for the initiative of Peace Platform’s participation in the European Union's programs caused concern of the enemies of peace. Member of Parliament Kyiv Regional Rada, ethnic armenian Armen Shaharyants faced the same problem when he issued statement on joining the Armenia-Azerbaijan Platform for Peace. It caused great interest of Armenians. It didn’t happen due to pressures. Similar events occur regarding the activity of the Peace Platform. Fore example,
a young writer Lusine Nersisyan, who is living in Khankendi, left the Peace Platform under pressure and a number of Armenian activists are fearing from joining the Armenia-Azerbaijan Platform for Peace, but are always supporting us.
Peacekeeping requires great sacrifice, courage and effort. As the Armenia-Azerbaijan Platform for Peace, we understand that Vahan Martirosyan would be unable to take part in the process of peace-building under total pressure of the Armenian power structures and express gratitude to him for going with us through this difficult path. This once again proves that growing international support for the Peace Platform disturbs some forces that regard the establishment of peace, the peaceful coexistence of the Armenian and Azerbaijani peoples dangerous for their continued existence. As a result of it, the pressure on the Peace Platform increases. Peaceful representatives of Armenia and Azerbaijan should cooperate more actively with the Peace Platform as a protest to the forces that oppose this fragile peacemaking process. International Organizations should properly assess the uniqueness of the Peace Platform and strengthen relations with the platform for establishing trust between the two peoples. For this reason, we call upon all international organizations that want peace in the region to help and contribute to the breakthrough in peacekeeping activities in order to unite efforts and ensure the protection of the rights of Armenians and Azerbaijanis. The Armenia-Azerbaijan Platform for Peace will continue to intensively pursue its activities for reconciliation of the two peoples and the peaceful settlement of the conflict,” says the statement.