Vartan Oskanian has issued a call at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva for an investigation into Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of Armenians from Nagorno Karabakh. In a response, Azerbaijan says the Armenians’ departure was “voluntary”.
Vartan Oskanian addressing the UN Human Rights Council on July 8, screenshot/UN Web TV
Vartan Oskanian, a former foreign minister of Armenia, has issued a call at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva for an investigation into Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of Armenians from Nagorno Karabakh.
Speaking at an Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, Ashwini K. P., on July 8 Oskanian recalled that nine months ago, Nagorno Karabakh was home to 120,000 indigenous ethnic Armenians. Today, virtually no Armenians live in Nagorno Karabakh (or Artsakh).
Last September, after laying siege to Nagorno Karabakh for ten months, the government of Azerbaijan attacked Nagorno Karabakh, forcing the entire population to flee. “These actions targeted Nagorno Karabakh’s population on the basis of their ethnicity, and they achieved their intended goal: ethnic cleansing,” said Oskanian, who was speaking on behalf of Christian Solidarity International (CSI).
In December, the parliament of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh appointed Oskanian to head the Committee for the Defense of the Fundamental Rights of the People of Nagorno Karabakh, which is advocating for the right of return of Karabakh’s Armenians.
Oskanian recalled that the International Court of Justice had ruled on November 17, 2023, that Azerbaijan must ensure that all those who have left Nagorno Karabakh are able to return in a safe, unimpeded and expeditious manner. This is in line with Azerbaijan’s obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
“So far, Azerbaijan has not taken any meaningful steps to fulfill this order,” Armenia’s longest-serving post-independence foreign minister (1998-2008) stated.
“Madame Ashwini K. P., I urge you to undertake a fact-finding visit to the displaced people of Nagorno Karabakh, and submit a report on the ethnic cleansing of Nagorno Karabakh to the Human Rights Council.“
In a verbal response at the Human Rights Council, the representative of Azerbaijan accused CSI of “attempting to distort the situation regarding the voluntary departure of the Armenian population from the Karabakh region”.
