U.S. State Department refrains from calling exodus of 100,000 Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians ‘ethnic cleansing
YEREVAN, October 3. /ARKA/. The U.S. State Department refrained from calling the exodus of 100,000 Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians to Armenia ‘ethnic cleansing.’
‘We take allegations of ethnic cleansing, genocide, or other atrocities seriously. We are in touch with contacts on the ground about the situation. We won’t shy from taking appropriate actions to respond to allegations of atrocities and promote accountability for those responsible for atrocities when we see evidence that they’ve taken place,’ State Department spokesman Mathew Miller said at October 2 press briefing when asked whether the United States abides by the qualification that the exodus of Armenian s from Nagorno-Karabakh is an ‘ethnic cleansing.’
He said a determination regarding genocide or ethnic cleansing is based on a deliberate, evidence-based process.
‘It’s not something I can speak to with any degree of finality from this podium,’ he said, but agreed that Nagorno-Karabakh has been emptied of its ethnic Armenian population.
‘It is certainly true that a hundred thousand, or I should say around a hundred thousand, ethnic Armenians have departed Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia. Now, we don’t know – I don’t think any of us can say whether – what percentage of those plan to remain in Armenia permanently, what percentage of them may want to come back, if the conditions allowed, if they felt sufficient assurances about their treatment if they would return, which is why we are reiterating our call for an independent international monitoring mission that would provide transparency and reassurance to the population of Nagorno-Karabakh that the rights and securities of ethnic Armenians would be protected, particularly for any of those that wish to return. Azerbaijan has made those assurances. We think there ought to be an international monitoring mission there to observe and guarantee them,’ Miller said.
Miller said also that the U.S. continues to work with its allies and partners about what a more long-term international mission in Nagorno-Karabakh ought to look like.
He said also,’ The situation on the ground is exactly as I just described it, where around 100,000 ethnic Armenians have left Nagorno-Karabakh, and relocated to Armenia. We believe that they ought – if they wish to return, they ought to have their rights respected, and that there ought to be an international monitoring mission in place to secure that.’
Asked was there any room left for peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan he said,’ We think certainly there ought to be. There are other issues beyond the status of Nagorno-Karabakh that are at dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and we would encourage them to return to peace talks to discuss and ultimately come to resolution on those issues.’
About the UN mission
A United Nations mission, led by Vladanka Andreeva, UN Resident Coordinator in Azerbaijan, visited the Karabakh region in Azerbaijan on Sunday, 1 October.
The organization said in parts of Stepanakert that the team visited, they saw no damage to civilian public infrastructure, including hospitals, schools and housing, or to cultural and religious structures.
The mission saw also very few local population remaining in the city. The team heard from interlocutors that between 50 and 1,000 ethnic Armenians remain in the Karabakh region.
In this regard, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan emphasized that the UN mission was too late. "At the moment, unfortunately, the only result of this mission may be a record of ethnic cleansing of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh," Mirzoyan said.-0-
