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Time in Yerevan: 11:07,   28 March 2024

Prominent US-based periodical puts sign of parity between officials of Artsakh and Azerbaijan

Prominent US-based periodical puts sign of parity between officials of Artsakh and Azerbaijan

YEREVAN, MARCH 24, ARMENPRESS/ARTSAKHPRESS. The US-based FOREIGN POLICY  periodical has touched upon Nagorno Karabakh conflict, speaking with official representatives of Artsakh and Azerbaijan.

The article says that Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence is not recognized by the international community. The country, however, claims sovereignty, and has its own parliament — which, last May, voted for Ruben Melikyan as its ombudsman for human rights.

In an interview with FOREIGN POLICY Artsakh’s ombudsman Melikyan noted that the conflict is not frozen, both sides are at a tense but calm standstill. 

“In the past 10 months, Melikyan noted, 20 soldiers from the Nagorno Karabakh side were killed, and 95 were wounded. The Azerbaijani side has also suffered casualties”, Melikyan said, adding that he is a human rights defender, “not an Armenian rights defender”.  In this context he told about his efforts to allocate a lawyer of his choice to the Azerbaijani who entered Artsakh to incite unrest. But Azerbaijan, he said, does not recognize the rights of those in Nagorno Karabakh. Azerbaijan does not recognize Nagorno Karabakh the humanity of the people therein. “Rights must be universal”, Melikyan stressed.

The situation is viewed somewhat differently from the Azerbaijani side. Vugar Gurbanov, counselor at the Embassy of Azerbaijan, said that Azerbaijanis have been displaced from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding regions. “It’s not only about the occupation of territories, but how they are occupied,” he told FP.

Artsakh’s ombudsman Melikyan said talks and statements will be futile unless Azerbaijan changes its “Armeniphobia.” Meanwhile, Gurbanov dismissed that as Armenian nationalism, and cited OSCE co-chairs as saying, “Without starting talks, no one should expect peace in the region.”

Hikmat Hajiyev, spokesperson of Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry, said in an email to FP that the “reality on the ground is that Armenia used force against territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan and occupied 20 percent territories of Azerbaijan.” Further, he said that Armenia, with “its policy of occupation and notorious ethnic cleansing by all means tries to present the conflict as [a] self-determination issue of Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.”

Artak Nersisyan, spokesperson of Nagorno-Karabakh’s foreign ministry, said in response that this was not a territorial dispute, but an issue of self-determination, and that Azerbaijan “not only violates the fundamental norms of the international law, but also undermines foundations of the negotiating process under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group.”








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