Armenian authorities must once again raise issue of Artsakh Armenians rights at international level - Vartan Oskanyan

ArmInfo. The issue of restoring  all the rights of the Armenians of Artsakh and ensuring their right  to return to their own homes must be returned to the international  agenda by the Armenian authorities, former Armenian Foreign Minister  Vardan Oskanyan stated during a live broadcast on Facebook. In this  vein, the Armenian diplomat touched upon the resonant statement made  on August 5 by the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus  and the Crisis in Georgia Toivo Klaar.  The latter, in particular,  emphasized the need to ensure the right of the Artsakh people to  return to their homes. The European official also pointed out the  need to separate the issues of the return of the Artsakh people to  their historical homeland from the right of Azerbaijanis to return to  Armenia, and Armenians to Azerbaijan.

According to Oskanyan, the assessments given by Klaar in this  interview are all that he has already spoken about many times,  especially regarding the right of the Artsakh people to collectively  return to their historical homeland. The former head of the Armenian  Foreign Ministry assured that, in general, positive dynamics are  being formed in the international community on the issue of the  return of Armenians to Artsakh while ensuring international security  guarantees. He added that the results of meetings of representatives  of the Committee for the Protection of the Fundamental Rights of the  People of Artsakh both in Europe and in the United States allow him  to make such judgments.

"During the 4 months of work of the Committee for the Protection of  the Fundamental Rights of the People of Artsakh, we have actually not  encountered a refusal to cooperate. The international community  recognizes that our Committee represents the voice of the Armenians  of Artsakh," the diplomat noted.  Returning to the statements made by  Klaar, the former head of the Foreign Ministry once again emphasized  that his words once again prove the fact that the issue of the  Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is not yet closed.

"If Azerbaijan thinks that it has resolved this issue by military  means, then it is mistaken. The Artsakh conflict has not been  resolved until the issues related to the return of the Artsakh people  to their homes under international guarantees and the restoration of  their rights are resolved. It remains to include this issue in the  agenda," Oskanyan noted, in this vein calling on the Artsakh people  and Armenians not to ignore this issue. "This is, first of all, a  question of our responsibility. This is a question of the  responsibility of the Armenian authorities. The Armenians of Artsakh  suffered this fate because of the mistakes made by the current  authorities of Armenia. Let us not allow the Armenian authorities to  continue this series of mistakes, or in pursuit of justifying these  mistakes, to consign to oblivion the issue of the rights of the  people of Artsakh. Let us not allow the 150,000 Armenians of Artsakh  to be forgotten just because the Armenian authorities are trying to  clear themselves of this stigma. We are obliged to fight for the  restoration of all rights, for their return to their homes under  international guarantees and for a peaceful, fair resolution of the  conflict. This issue must be put on the agenda first of all by the  Armenian authorities," the diplomat concluded.

As ArmInfo previously reported, Klaar, in an interview with Jam-news,  touching on the prospects of the return of the Artsakh people to  their homes, expressed hope that the page of hostility and violence  can finally be turned once and for all for the benefit of the entire  population of the region, including the Karabakh Armenians.

"The EU has been very clear on this issue - and I also expect this -  that the Karabakh Armenians will be part of the normalization process  and that direct negotiations will take place between Baku and them on  their safe and dignified return to their home region. Azerbaijan has  obligations in this regard, which, I think, it does not deny," the  European official added.

According to him, the parameters and conditions of such a future must  be found and agreed upon through an inclusive and mutually respectful  dialogue. "Sometimes other issues are raised in this context, for  example, the issue of the so-called "Western Azerbaijan" (after the  capture of Artsakh, Baku introduced the new term Western Azerbaijan -  which implies the entire territory of the Republic of Armenia - ed.).  For me, these are completely different issues that cannot be mixed.

The first is to facilitate the return of the Karabakh Armenians to  their original homes, which is the responsibility of Azerbaijan. The  second is the issue of the Armenians who lived in other parts of  Azerbaijan, including Baku, or the Azerbaijanis who lived in Armenia.

Naturally, they should also be able to visit the places where they or  their families lived, or even return there if they wish, and this  should also be a consequence of the normalization of the situation,  but this is a completely different issue than the specific issue of  the Karabakh Armenians," Klaar said.

Klaar's statement caused hysteria in Baku. The Azerbaijani side  confirmed its categorical determination not to allow the return of  the Artsakh people to their historical homeland.