As delivered by Deputy Chief of Mission Katherine Brucker
to the Permanent Council, Vienna
November 9, 2023

The United States supports the Armenian government’s efforts to help displaced persons who fled their homes following Azerbaijan’s September 19th military operation.  We are working closely with Prime Minister Pashinyan’s government and humanitarian organizations to identify and provide bilateral assistance.

We note the October 16 to 23 visit to Armenia and Azerbaijan, including to Nagorno-Karabakh, by the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights.  We urge Azerbaijan to allow unhindered access for international observers, NGOs, and journalists to Nagorno-Karabakh and conflict-affected areas, in part to help establish a clear channel of communication through which the displaced can receive information and ask questions about potential returns, for those who may wish to do so, either permanently or temporarily.   Such observers should also be allowed to conduct independent and impartial assessments of allegations of human rights abuses and destruction and damage to religious and cultural sites.

The only acceptable path forward to a dignified and durable peace in the South Caucasus is through dialogue.

Acknowledgment of both Armenia’s and Azerbaijan’s territory by size, commitment to border delimitation based on the 1991 Almaty Declaration and underlying maps, and guarantees that regional communication links will reciprocally respect sovereignty, territorial integrity, and jurisdiction will further the path to peace.

Outstanding political, economic, humanitarian, and security issues between Azerbaijan and Armenia remain a focus for the United States and we continue to encourage both parties at the highest levels to remain engaged in dialogue.