Source: AFP
Armenia called for sending a United Nations mission “immediately” to the Karabakh region to monitor the situation on the ground, while Azerbaijan promised to treat Armenians in this region as “equal citizens.”
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said during a speech at the United Nations: “After failing to prevent the genocide in Rwanda, the United Nations was able to establish prevention mechanisms… but today we are on the verge of another failure.”
He added that “the international community must make every effort to immediately deploy a joint UN agency mission in Karabakh to monitor and evaluate the human rights, humanitarian and security situation on the ground,” repeating accusations that Baku is committing “ethnic cleansing” in the region.
He continued, “Unfortunately, we do not have a partner for peace. Rather, we have a country that explicitly declares that ‘the strongest prevail’ and constantly uses force to disrupt the peace process.”
A few hours ago, from the same podium in the United Nations General Assembly, his Azerbaijani counterpart, Jeyhun Bayramov, promised that the majority of Armenians in Karabakh would be treated as “equal citizens.”
“I want to reiterate that Azerbaijan is determined to reintegrate the Armenian population of the Karabakh region into Azerbaijan as equal citizens,” he said, adding that “the Constitution, national legislation of Azerbaijan and the international commitments we have undertaken form a solid foundation for this goal.”
Bayramov added, “We still believe that there is a historic opportunity for Azerbaijan and Armenia to establish good neighborly relations and coexist side by side in peace.”
For his part, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken informed Armenia on Saturday that the United States is “deeply concerned” about the ethnic Armenian population in Karabakh, adding that it sought to secure protection for them as Azerbaijan strengthens its control over the region.
Last week, during a phone call with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed the importance of ensuring the rights and security of the Armenian population in Karabakh when discussing next steps to stabilize the situation and overcome humanitarian problems in the region.
For his part, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday accused the United States and the European Union of destabilizing the South Caucasus by “imposing mediation services” on Armenia and Azerbaijan, adding that the West is working to undermine Russian influence in Armenia.
Lavrov stressed that the Russian peacekeeping forces present in Karabakh will help build a peaceful life there, and expressed his conviction that the Armenian people “remember history and link their fate with Russia and other friendly countries, especially in the region, rather than with those who come to them from abroad.”