The Artsakh Public Council has sent letters to the Armenian government and the Russian Embassy in Yerevan, demanding action on the right of displaced Armenians to return to Nagorno-Karabakh and the release of Armenians held in Azerbaijan.
The council questioned why the blockade of the Lachin corridor and Azerbaijan’s September 2023 military offensive had not been prevented, and what measures were now being taken to address their consequences.
It recalled that many Armenians returned to Nagorno-Karabakh after the 2020 war, expecting to live safely under the arrangements established by the November 9 trilateral ceasefire statement. Those expectations were followed by the blockade, military offensive and mass displacement of the region’s Armenian population in 2023.
The council called for the voluntary, safe and dignified return of displaced Armenians, the release of detainees and the protection of Armenian cultural and religious heritage to become priorities in negotiations.
It requested written responses and concrete measures from both addressees, stressing that decisions about the future of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian population must involve its representatives directly.
The appeals come on the sixth anniversary of the November 9, 2020 ceasefire statement signed by the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia, which provided for the deployment of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh and the Lachin corridor.
