YEREVAN. – Sarasar Saryan, head of the Artsakh Union of Armenian Refugees from Azerbaijan, presented to Miroslav Lajčák, the visiting Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Chairman-in-Office and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia, the present-day state of the Armenian refugees in the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic/NKR).

Saryan noted that 30 thousand Armenian refugees currently live in Artsakh, and they were deprived of international support and assistance—also due to the position of the Azerbaijani authorities that obstruct specialized international organizations from visiting Artsakh. As per the head of the Artsakh Union of Armenian Refugees from Azerbaijan, this is discrimination and a clear violation of the fundamental rights of refugees.

Also, Sarasar Saryan noted that Baku views the matter of refugees solely in the context of having political dividends, and stressed that Azerbaijani authorities have kept their refugees in tent cities to use them for propaganda purposes.

In addition, the head of the Artsakh Union of Armenian Refugees from Azerbaijan invited the OSCE Chairman-in-Office to visit Artsakh to get familiarized on the spot with the condition of the Armenian refugees living there.