The statement of the Armenian delegation to the PACE Armen Gevorgyan at the regular sitting of the Social, Health and Sustainable Development Committee of the Republic of Armenia on March 7, 2025.
"Dear partners,
In January, we adopted a resolution on the humanitarian situation in Gaza stating that "the Assembly cannot accept that this humanitarian crisis is presented or seen inevitable or to become a" new norm. " Today I present to you the catastrophic situation in Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) occupied by Azerbaijan, which is actually ignored by the international community and becomes a "new norm". After the ethnic cleansing of Armenians and the occupation of Armenian lands, Ilham Aliyev continued the genocidal policy towards Armenians, which aims to exclude their return to their historic homeland.
A number of Armenian churches, memorials, cultural centers, libraries and schools, hundreds of khachkars have already been destroyed. Armenian spiritual centers are desecrated, more than 30 art and museum collections have been looted. About a dozen Armenian settlements have also been destroyed. In recent years, more than 24,000 Armenian Armenians have already left the region.
I want to draw your attention to the fact that the right to return to the Armenians of Karabakh, their historic homeland remains imperfect due to disgraceful trials in Baku. It is psychological violence against Armenians, who are said if your leaders are in such a position, imagine what will happen to you if you decide to return to Karabakh. In Baku, these people are tried primarily because they are Armenians, they are Christians. They are humiliated because being a small but proud nation leaders have been able to live in a free and democratic society for more than 30 years, facing authoritarian Azerbaijan. They do not lose their dignity and courage, which are subjected to torture and humiliation.
The Azerbaijani authoritarian regime grown with Western oil dollars is actually destroying the traces of Armenian civilization in Artsakh. This is a continuation of the new Armenian genocide in Nakhichevan in the middle of the 20th century.
International norms, mechanisms and institutions for eliminating the catastrophic situation in Artsakh do not work at all. Azerbaijan deliberately violates and ignores the decisions of international courts, and the international community is clearly indifferent to 150,000 Armenians on the issue of providing their historic homeland.
It should also have a great concern that many international humanitarian, human rights and media offices are closed in Baku. Thus, the ICRC, four UN agencies, Transparency International terminates their work, and the BBC's office has been closed. It is obvious that all this is done to close the topic of the return of Armenians to Artsakh and prepare new provocations for further destabilization of regional security.
Please support the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, to the PACE President and the High Commissioner for the High Commissioner for the Human Rights Council, to send the situation with Armenian captives in Baku, to discuss his international obligations with Azerbaijan and impose them to do them. "
