Artsakh Armenians displaced by the 44-Day-War

Representatives of the forcibly displaced Armenian population of Nagorno Karabakh released a statement on Monday, emphasizing that tens of thousands of Armenians today are deprived of their right to live on their homeland as a result of the 44-Day War of 2020 and the forced displacements carried out by Azerbaijan in 1990s, Artsakhpress reported.

Below is the text of the statement.

Tens of thousands of Armenians from the Shahumyan region and Getashen sub-region were also forcibly displaced by Azerbaijan back in the 1990s. Under clause 7 of the November 9, 2020 trilateral statement the leaders of the Republic of Armenia, Republic of Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation assumed the obligation to ensure the return of internally displaced persons and refugees to Nagorno Karabakh and adjacent regions under the supervision of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. This has not happened to this day.

Taking into account the necessity to restore the rights of the forcibly displaced population of Nagorno Karabakh, as well as the obligations assumed by Azerbaijan under clause 7 of the November 9, 2020 trilateral statement, with this letter, we demand that the President of Azerbaijan Republic Ilham Aliyev acknowledge the urgent imperative of restoring the violated rights of Armenian refugees, ensure their safe and dignified return to their historic lands and former settlements in accordance with the assumed obligations, human rights and humanitarian law.

We call on the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, as a signatory to the November 9, 2020 trilateral statement, to display a consistent approach in the issue of initiating all international legal and political mechanisms that will ensure the implementation of international obligations by Azerbaijan. At the same time, we ask for additional mechanisms to be created for the more effective protection of the rights and interests of refugees, raising and advancing their lawful demands.

We call on the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to ensure the implementation of the terms of the November 9, 2020 trilateral statement through the mechanisms envisaged under international law and all possible political levers, taking into account the fact that he is a head of state of the signatory state to the statement, and therefore the guarantor of implementation of the terms of the statement.

We call on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi to organiz, supervise and ensure the return of the displaced Armenian population of the territories under Azerbaijani control, as well as to support the effective and applicable international guarantees for ensuring the security of the returning persons, including the deployment of peacekeeping forces.

At the same time, we draw to the High Commissioner’s attention the fact that the Azerbaijani authorities are currently carrying out illegal repopulation programs of Azerbaijanis in our settlements, impeding our return and illegally appropriating our property.

We present this letter as organizations created by, representing the interests of and acting on behalf of refugees and forcibly displaced persons of the 2020 44-Day War in Nagorno Karabakh and the First Nagorno Karabakh War.

NKR Union of Refugees NGO – Saro Saryan
Motherhood NGO – Hasmik Mikayelyan
Kajar Scientific Center NGO – Mher Harutyunyan
Center for Support and Development of Women and Children NGO – Inessa Asryan
Union of Refugees for Justice NGO – Angela Tamrazyan
Association of Women Refugees NGO – Ruzanna Avagyan
Our Home NGO – Anahit Tovmasyan
Deoccupation of Hadrut NGO – Meri Davtyan
Children’s Creative Center of Hadrut NGO – Ira Tamrazyan