In a TV interview on January 10, the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, sent this message to the people of Artsakh: “All conditions will be created for those who want to live under the flag of Azerbaijan. Their rights and security will be guaranteed equally with the citizens of Azerbaijan. And for those who do not want to become citizens of our country, the road is not closed; it is open. They can leave. They can leave by themselves or in the peacekeepers’ cars or buses. The road is open.”
Genocide expert, Ph.D. in history (Cand. Sc. History) Suren Manukyan, the guest of “Aravot” program “Areresum,” (“Confrontation”) referring to this promise to guarantee rights, said in particular: “This is a frightening message because according to many international organizations, Azerbaijanis are not free in their country; they are not safe from violence. And when it is suggested to live in the same status as Azerbaijanis, it is not a positive message, but a worrying one.”
And the other guest, Siranush Sahakyan, head of the Center for International and Comparative Law (“CICL”), reminded in this regard that after the 44-day war, there were Armenians who “due to age or other factors, decided to stay and continue living in their land, facing the possibility of the Azerbaijani government, and any Armenian is not alive at the moment.
And the authorities of Azerbaijan must first answer that question. Suppose it is declared that Armenians can live and have equal rights, as was rightly pointed out in that case, the oppressed Azerbaijani people are, then why physically do not exist those old people or young people with disabilities who have voluntarily decided to stay and submit to the Government of Azerbaijan”?
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Anna ISRAELYAN
