Azerbaijan has obligation in facilitating return of Karabakh Armenians, says EU special representative

YEREVAN, AUGUST 5, ARMENPRESS. The EU has been very clear that the Karabakh Armenians will be part of the Armenia-Azerbaijan normalisation process and that there will be direct talks between Baku and them about their safe and dignified return to their home region, Toivo Klaar, the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia has said.

In an interview with JAMnews, Klaar said that Azerbaijan has an obligation in the facilitation of the return of the Karabakh Armenians to their ancestral homes.

“Once again, I do hope that the page of enmity and violence can finally be turned once and for all, for the benefit of all populations in the region, including the Karabakh Armenians. The EU has been very clear on the matter – and it is also my expectation – that the Karabakh Armenians will be part of the normalisation process and that there will be direct talks between Baku and them about their safe and dignified return to their home region. Azerbaijan does have an obligation in this regard, which – as it seems to me – it does not deny. The parameters and conditions for such a future need to be found and agreed through an inclusive and mutually respectful dialogue. Normalisation to me means no open wounds, and therefore this issue has to be part of the broader peace process. Sometimes other issues are brought up in this context, such as the question of so-called “Western Azerbaijan”. For me, these are completely distinct questions that cannot be mixed. The first is the facilitation of the return of the Karabakh Armenians to their ancestral homes, which is an obligation that Azerbaijan has. The second is the question of Armenians who used to live in other parts of Azerbaijan, including in Baku, or of Azerbaijanis who used to live in Armenia. Naturally they should also be able to visit the places where they or their families have lived, or even to return there, if they so wish, and this should likewise be a consequence of normalisation, but that is a wholly different issue from the specific question of the Karabakh Armenians,” he said.