Telegram channels close to Pashinyan are actively publishing excerpts from a complaint titled “Why Are There No Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh?“, prepared by several human rights groups: Freedom House, International Partnership for Human Rights, Democracy Development Foundation, Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly – Vanadzor, Protection of Rights without Borders, Law Development and Protection Foundation, and Truth Hounds.
The work is titled the “Mission Report on Fact-Finding,” but it seems the facts did not particularly interest the authors of the complaint. The human rights advocates merely repeat Armenian propaganda theses: “The 44-day war was a traumatic experience for the people of Nagorno-Karabakh,” “an overwhelming sense of fear of Azerbaijan among residents,” and so on. The explosion of the gas pipeline, organized by Armenian militants but attributed to the Azerbaijani side, is also recalled. In the spirit of lamentations, they state: “On December 12, 2022, the Lachin Corridor was blocked. Later, in violation of the Trilateral Statement of November 9 and the interim measures of the UN ICJ, a checkpoint was established in the Lachin Corridor, which locked residents inside the territory.” They overlook that there were no UN peacekeeping forces in Karabakh, and the Russian peacekeepers did not have a UN mandate. They also seem to be unaware of freedom of assembly and the right to picket. If Azerbaijani environmentalists hold a picket on the Lachin road, it is unacceptable in the eyes of human rights defenders, unlike the actions of the radical opposition in Baku.
However, we will deliberately stop looking for where the authors of the complaint slightly deviated from the truth and where they significantly did. We will not clarify where the inflated figures of “civilian casualties” come from. We will refrain from explaining that references to “Armenian forensic experts” in stories about “mutilated bodies” are essentially rumors and assumptions not supported by concrete evidence. We will not remind that ethnic Armenians left Karabakh voluntarily, not waiting for the arrival of Azerbaijani troops.
The authors of the complaint overlook important facts. The international community recognizes Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, making the term “people of Nagorno-Karabakh” incorrect. The conflict began in the late eighties, and at the start, both Armenians and Azerbaijanis lived in Karabakh. But the human rights advocates present the population of Karabakh as exclusively Armenian, ignoring the ethnic cleansing conducted in the late eighties and early nineties, resulting in about a million Azerbaijani refugees. There is no mention in the report of the occupation of Karabakh from 1992-93, ethnic cleansing, urbicide, or mine terror.
The human rights advocates also do not mention that the 44-day war started with an Armenian provocation. In November 2019, the Armenian defense minister promised “a new war for new territories.” The report does not state that the anti-terrorist raid on September 19-20, 2023, was preceded by a mine explosion laid by an Armenian sabotage group. The authors of the complaint forget to mention that Armenia violated the agreement by keeping a 15,000-strong troop contingent in Karabakh.
In conclusion, the human rights advocates did not attempt to consider the situation from the Azerbaijani side and understand what was happening. They simply published Armenian narratives under their brand, indicating an order from official Yerevan. If Pashinyan’s team promotes the myth of the “forcible expulsion of Karabakh Armenians,” it suggests plans for a renewed occupation of Karabakh. Claims to Karabakh are enshrined in Armenia’s constitution, and Pashinyan does not intend to change them. Therefore, the conclusions of the human rights advocates’ report should not be considered contrived.
This report is important to consider when human rights defenders once again speak about human rights violations in Azerbaijan.
Nurani
Translated from minval.az
