Tweet
Twenty years after deportation: Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan demand international status
The organizing committee of representatives of Azerbaijani Armenians has decided to hold its first convention on February 28, 2011, in the territories around the former Nagorno-Karabakh autonomous region.
About two decades after the beginning of deportations of Armenians from Azerbaijan Armenian refugees are organizing to present their claims. They are outraged by the fact that only the issue of Azeri refugees is being discussed during current peace talks on Karabakh, while the rights of Armenians are ignored.
According to different estimates, 450,000-700,000 Armenians were ousted from Azerbaijan following ethnic tensions in 1988-1991. The people were fleeing pogroms, ethnic cleansing and violence. The majority lost their property; many have not been able to integrate into society in Armenia during the past two decades.
Chairman of the Assembly of Azerbaijani Armenians Grigoriy Ayvazyan says Azerbaijani Armenians want to create a new state in the western part of Nagorno-Karabakh and call it the Armenian Republic of Aghvank with its center in Lachin. He said that the Assembly would request that the NKR authorities should temporarily give it the western territories of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The head of the organization says: “We want to send a message that these areas are an integral part of Karabakh and temporary residence of Azerbaijani Armenians. If the Armenians of Azerbaijan can not return to their historical homeland, we exclude the possibility of the return of Azeri Turks to the liberated territories of Karabakh.”
Now about 35,000 refugees live in Nagorno-Karabakh. In late October, Karabakh was visited by members of the European Parliament Damien Abad (EPP) and Michelle Rivazi (European Green Union). MEPs also met with the head of the NKR refugees organization Sarasar Saryan.
Rivazi noticed that Armenian refugees did not apply to the relevant European Parliament committee for international status in contrast to Azerbaijani refugees. The MEPs believe that the European Union should be called upon to investigate the causes of the emergence of Armenian refugees who found shelter in Armenia and Karabakh.
“A few years ago we drafted official letters on refugee issues addressed to a number of international structures. We turned for help to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nagorno-Karabakh, but our inquiries about the fate of those letters have not been answered yet. I think these letters have got stuck in the Foreign Ministry,” said Saryan.
He is convinced that the government should take responsibility for Armenian refugees and become the guarantor of all processes.
The newly-formed organization states that the liberated territories are the cradle of Azerbaijani Armenians, and they are willing to settle there.
A draft resolution is on the agenda of the current four-day session of parliament in Armenia “On the responsibility of Azerbaijan for the distortion of the essence of the Karabakh conflict.” Using the ignorance of international organizations, Azerbaijan tries to separate the issues of territories and refugees from the settlement package as priorities for solutions, the document says.
The organizing committee of representatives of Azerbaijani Armenians has decided to hold its first convention on February 28, 2011, in the territories around the former Nagorno-Karabakh autonomous region.
About two decades after the beginning of deportations of Armenians from Azerbaijan Armenian refugees are organizing to present their claims. They are outraged by the fact that only the issue of Azeri refugees is being discussed during current peace talks on Karabakh, while the rights of Armenians are ignored.
According to different estimates, 450,000-700,000 Armenians were ousted from Azerbaijan following ethnic tensions in 1988-1991. The people were fleeing pogroms, ethnic cleansing and violence. The majority lost their property; many have not been able to integrate into society in Armenia during the past two decades.
Chairman of the Assembly of Azerbaijani Armenians Grigoriy Ayvazyan says Azerbaijani Armenians want to create a new state in the western part of Nagorno-Karabakh and call it the Armenian Republic of Aghvank with its center in Lachin. He said that the Assembly would request that the NKR authorities should temporarily give it the western territories of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The head of the organization says: “We want to send a message that these areas are an integral part of Karabakh and temporary residence of Azerbaijani Armenians. If the Armenians of Azerbaijan can not return to their historical homeland, we exclude the possibility of the return of Azeri Turks to the liberated territories of Karabakh.”
Now about 35,000 refugees live in Nagorno-Karabakh. In late October, Karabakh was visited by members of the European Parliament Damien Abad (EPP) and Michelle Rivazi (European Green Union). MEPs also met with the head of the NKR refugees organization Sarasar Saryan.
Rivazi noticed that Armenian refugees did not apply to the relevant European Parliament committee for international status in contrast to Azerbaijani refugees. The MEPs believe that the European Union should be called upon to investigate the causes of the emergence of Armenian refugees who found shelter in Armenia and Karabakh.
“A few years ago we drafted official letters on refugee issues addressed to a number of international structures. We turned for help to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nagorno-Karabakh, but our inquiries about the fate of those letters have not been answered yet. I think these letters have got stuck in the Foreign Ministry,” said Saryan.
He is convinced that the government should take responsibility for Armenian refugees and become the guarantor of all processes.
The newly-formed organization states that the liberated territories are the cradle of Azerbaijani Armenians, and they are willing to settle there.
A draft resolution is on the agenda of the current four-day session of parliament in Armenia “On the responsibility of Azerbaijan for the distortion of the essence of the Karabakh conflict.” Using the ignorance of international organizations, Azerbaijan tries to separate the issues of territories and refugees from the settlement package as priorities for solutions, the document says.
Comment