Co-chairs distorted core of issue
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The "Refugees and International Right" system expresses its concerns about the approaches of the co-chairs of the Minsk Group, the Azeri authorities, as well as the stance of the Armenian and Karabakh authorities.
As stated in the statement of the system, during their last regional visit the co-chairs of the Minsk Group distorted the core of the issue regarding refugees and scrutinized it within the context of the return of Azeri refugees to their previous homes in the current Nagorno-Karabakh territory and evaded recalling the need to defend the rights and interests of half a million Azeri refugees.
"All sides of the peace talks remind that according to the official statistics of Azerbaijan, the number of refugees registered in the country makes up only 8,000 people of which a large part is Azeri. The co-chairs "revived" the still-born idea according to which the participation of NKR in the talks will be possible only under the condition of complete participation of the "Azeri district of Nagorno-Karabakh" NGO.
Judging from the logic of the co-chairs' proposals, all Azeri who have left their residencies must return, while the Azeri who used to live in the former Autonomous Region of Nagorno-Karabakh will be considered the Azeri community of Nagorno-Karabakh. However, there is nothing mentioned about the rights of native Armenians of Northern Artsakh or at least the need to secure the right of tens of thousands of Armenians who have been deported from the Shahumyan region and the Getashen sub-region to return to their homes. It is noteworthy that when the RA Minister of Foreign Affairs is asked about the fate of the Azeri-Armenian refugees, he avoids giving an answer and justifies that by the need to keep the details of the talks confidential.
We insist that Armenian and NKR officials connected to the peace talks must attach special importance to the issue of defending the rights of Armenian refugees. We demand the release of information on the details of the peace talks, which will help prevent the possibility of sealing a secret deal by violating the interests of our half a million fellow Armenians," as stated in the statement.
