Artsakh Foreign Minister Davit Babayan (center left) with EAFJD leaders and volunteers
BRUSSELS—Artsakh Foreign Minister Davit Babayan visited Brussels from February 7 to 10 on the joint initiative of European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy and Artsakh’s Foreign Ministry, the EAFJD reported on Friday.
During the visit, the cross-party Friendship Group with Artsakh was relaunched in the European Parliament with the broad participation of the Members of the European Parliament from the main political groups. The European lawmakers were thoroughly briefed on the current situation and challenges in Artsakh in the aftermath of the 2020 war, unleashed by Azerbaijan as well as the aggressive anti-Armenian policy/Armenophobia promoted by the Azerbaijani government and deeply rooted in its society in the past decades.
Babayan held meetings with the members (senators) of the Armenia-Georgia Friendship Group in the Belgian Federal Parliament, the French-speaking Friendship group with Artsakh in Belgium, as well as with the members of the Friendship Group with Artsakh in the Flemish Parliament. Later, the minister delivered a lecture for the students of one of the most prominent law schools in Germany. During the lecture Babayan elaborated on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict as well as the current situation. He also met with representatives of the Armenian community of Belgium at the conclusion of his visit.
During all the meetings, Babayan discussed the efforts by Azerbaijan’s authorities to destroy and erasure Armenian cultural heritage in the occupied territories of Artsakh, Azerbaijan’s state policy of falsifying history as well as the imperative to actively fight against these efforts.
“As European citizens we continue to actively work towards making the voice of the people of Artsakh heard among the decision-makers in Europe and sensitizing them about the aggressive policy of Azerbaijan. This visit of the Foreign Minister of the Artsakh Republic/Nagorno Karabakh to Brussels is thus of high importance also because it is his first visit to the EU capital in the post-war period,” said EAFJD President Kaspar Karampetian.
“The EU has the moral obligation to protect the values it claims to stand for and put effective pressure on the authoritarian regime of Azerbaijan to immediately end its destructive policies, including cultural genocide and history falsification,” added Karampetian.
