“During my visit, it was still about two weeks since the Azerbaijani Armed Forces began the process of applying psychological pressure through loudspeakers. The situation I saw there was very worrying,” said the RA Human Rights Defender Christine Grigoryan at a briefing with journalists after the government session on March 18, referring to her visit to Artsakh and what she saw there.
She said that she had met with Artsakh officials, visited the village of Khramort, and communicated with the residents. “It is about the psychological state of the population. Unfortunately, after the visit, we had much more serious developments, including intense shootings, shootings from large-caliber weapons, and then an unbearable humanitarian situation in the conditions of gas cut-off and constant power outages,” said Christine Grigoryan. According to her, “There were many problems with employment, social integration, and children’s adaptation,” Grigoryan said.
She also noted that the policy pursued by Azerbaijan aimed at pressure, intimidation, and eviction of Armenians continues. “In these cold weather conditions, they do not allow the consequences of an accident or so-called ‘accident’ to be restored… these actions are proof that this is a one-point policy, the goal is clear: ethnic cleansing is the eviction of Armenians from Artsakh.”
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In response to the question of despite all that, how does she imagine peace with Azerbaijan, Christine Grigoryan answered that no defender can say that peace is a bad thing. “But, as a defender, my peace talks, and my expressions of will must be proven by my actions. The events and escalations of at least the last two weeks, including the escalation of the humanitarian situation, show that there is no direct environment and action for peace talks. To put it mildly, they are not sincere from the Azerbaijani side.”
Lusine BUDAGHYAN
