Talks with Azerbaijan must include issue of Armenian refugees, says ex-justice minister

YEREVAN, JUNE 21, ARMENPRESS. The case of Armenian refugees displaced from Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh relates not only to the violation of the right to property, but also interference with the right to identity, which is protected in context of the right to privacy, therefore if court rulings were to record these violations then the state could take appropriate measures, according to Artak Zeynalyan, human rights advocate, lawyer and former Minister of Justice of Armenia.

The matter also contains an element of genocidal policy that Azerbaijan is carrying out against the ethnic Armenians. The Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has tasked relevant authorities to conduct studies in this regard and apply to the UNHCR.

“On this occasion there must be UN-developed mechanisms which would be used against Azerbaijan in order to eliminate the consequences of the genocide and enable the refugees to return to their homes, so that their rights are duly protected. There could be mechanisms defined by interstate agreements, so that each of the states could assume the protection of the rights of the displaced, those who have become refugees who were displaced by the adversary and are now on its territory,” Zeynalyan said.

Asked whether or not a return of Armenian refugees to their homes is realistic given Azerbaijan’s ongoing policy of ethnic cleansing against Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh, Zeynalyan said that this issue must definitely be included in the Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations in order to receive a legal solution.

“The international legal arena and the negotiations process must be used simultaneously, because these two directions complement one another, increasing the probability of resolving the refugee issue in context of the principle of the rule of law,” he said.

The PR manager at the Migration and Citizenship Service of the Interior Ministry, Nelly Davtyan, told ARMENPRESS that the refugee issue has a history of over 30 years, with the first major flow happening in 1988-92, when 360,000 Armenians were forced to leave Azerbaijan, which served as the basis of Armenia adopting a dedicated law on them. Some of them acquired citizenship of Armenia, while others maintained the status of refugee, while a part of them left for other countries. Today, the number of Armenians forcefully displaced from Azerbaijan comprises several thousands in Armenia.