Nagorno-Karabakh fell victim to Azerbaijani aggression last year -  Andranik Hovhannisyan

ArmInfo. Almost a year ago, Azerbaijan committed ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh. This was stated by the Ambassador of Armenia to Switzerland, the country's permanent representative to the UN office in Geneva Andranik Hovhannisyan during his speech at the 57th session of the UN on human rights. 


The diplomat recalled that 40 UN member states issued a joint statement to the HRC, expressing in this regard  and . They called on the OHCHR to closely monitor the situation and inform the Council.


Hovannisian further noted that the High Commissioner also expressed his concern and stressed the importance of protecting the rights of the ethnic Armenian population.

.

The International Court of Justice and numerous authoritative international observers have also reported grave human rights violations committed by Azerbaijan. In this regard, Armenia asks the OHCHR to remain seized of this issue and share its findings with the HRC>, the Armenian diplomat added.

At the same time, he noted that Armenia is exercising its right to respond to Azerbaijan and Pakistan, which spoke on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic State (OIC).

A year ago, Nagorno-Karabakh became a victim of the policy of aggression and expulsion by Azerbaijan.  The International Court noted that . Following the ethnic cleansing, footage of Azerbaijani vandalism in Nagorno-Karabakh has repeatedly appeared on social networks, demonstrating the destruction, looting and damage to Armenian property, cultural and religious heritage sites. The UN Special Rapporteur on Cultural Rights called this "cultural cleansing," Hovhannisyan added.

In this vein, he noted that a recent Freedom House report concluded that there was a "coordinated long-term plan to rid Nagorno-Karabakh of its ethnic Armenian population" and that "Azerbaijan's actions meet the criteria of ethnic cleansing." The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch reported that the population of Nagorno-Karabakh was displaced by Azerbaijan's armed attack and the long-standing hatred and intolerance perpetrated against it. "Armenia will continue to reiterate that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is not a religious one and cannot be anointed in religious terms. Armenia firmly believes that human rights are universal and are not limited by religious affiliation.


Unfortunately, Azerbaijan continues to abuse its membership in the OIC to distort the realities surrounding the conflict. To cite just one glaring example in this regard, Armenia supports and Azerbaijan obstructs the UNESCO fact-finding mission to Nagorno-Karabakh, and this has been publicly acknowledged by the Assistant Director-General of UNESCO. It is quite telling that the International Court of Justice ruled that Azerbaijan must . Armenia maintains good relations with almost all OIC members. We therefore ask them to reconsider including issues of bilateral conflicts in OIC statements>, the Armenian diplomat asked.