The assessments that the Prime Minister of Armenia made during his recent press conference are extremely dangerous for the vital rights of the Armenians of Artsakh and obstruct protection from the policy of genocide of Azerbaijan. This is stated in the statement that Human Rights Defenders of Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Arman Tatoyan and Gegham Stepanyan put into circulation.

“The approaches voiced at the press conference of the Prime Minister of Armenia on Dec. 24 completely contradict the natural rights of the Armenians of Artsakh to security and create fertile ground for Azerbaijan’s violations. These approaches fundamentally jeopardize the natural right to national self-determination.

According to the Prime Minister of Armenia, the consistent discriminatory policy of persecution against the Armenian people, the atrocities, the deprivation of property by Azerbaijan in 1923 and other illegal acts for the eviction of Armenians from the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) are overlooked.

The Azerbaijani state policy of hatred and enmity towards Armenia is that, in 2020, during the war, this led to massive ethnic cleansing in Artsakh, destruction of cities and villages (Stepanakert, Martuni, Shushi, Hadrut, etc.), depriving people of their homes, torture and atrocities, murder, desecration and destruction of churches.

After the war, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, under the auspices of the Azerbaijani authorities, continue to violate the vital rights of the people of Artsakh and kill civilians.

We consider the assessments of the Prime Minister of Armenia extremely dangerous. They substantiate the supremacy of political issues over human rights, reinforce Azerbaijan's false theses that ignore human rights. We urge everyone to stop ignoring human rights, creating fertile ground for false Azerbaijani theses, to exclude the subordination of human rights to political issues, as well as to refrain from creating artificial obstacles to protect the rights of our compatriots, especially in international instances,” the statement reads.