Grassroots organization welcomes EU envoy’s statement on Karabakh Armenians’ return

YEREVAN, AUGUST 7, ARMENPRESS. The Gardman-Shirvan-Nakhijevan Pan-Armenian Union, an organization comprised of representatives of Armenians of the historical Gardman, Shirvan and Nakhijevan, has welcomed a top EU official’s recent statement that Karabakh Armenians will be part of the Armenia-Azerbaijan normalization process.

Toivo Klaar, the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia, told JAMnews in an interview that “the EU has been very clear on the matter – and it is also my expectation – that the Karabakh Armenians will be part of the normalization 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.”

“Gardman-Shirvan-Nakhijevan Pan-Armenian Union welcomes the statement by the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus,” the organization said in a press release. “With its significance, this statement touches upon two issues, first, the undeniable necessity of the return of Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is indeed Azerbaijan’s obligation, and second, the issue of the Armenians who used to live in the territories of the historical Gardman, Shirvan and Nakhijevan and were subjected to ethnic cleansing in 1988-1992, which, for decades, hasn’t received the necessary international legal-political assessment. Although chronologically these two issues are separate from one another, having taken place in different conditions and having led to different consequences, historically they do comprise two consecutive phases of the same Armenophobia, which pursued the same goal of depopulating the Armenian settlements and Armenian regions, erasing all evidence of Armenian [presence] in these areas and subjecting the Armenian cultural range to ethnocide. Azerbaijan is carrying out the exact same actions today in Nagorno-Karabakh. Therefore, when talking about the restoration of the rights of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, the international community must, by separating the two issues, nevertheless clearly see the consequential connection in them, the identicality of ‘different’ Azerbaijani regimes when the matter concerns the destruction of Armenian [legacy]. Toivo Klaar and other reputed representatives of the international community must understand that the society that has been fed with ethnic racism for decades has turned into a terrorist [hotbed] that threatens regional stability and security. Gardman-Shirvan-Nakhijevan Pan-Armenian Union calls on Toivo Klaar to take into consideration in his future activities the need for relevant punishment and accountability against crimes of the past and to contribute to the create such mechanisms, solidify global political will and unbiased commentary of occurrences.”