The interlocutor of “Aravot” is the Chairman of the “Assembly of Armenians of Azerbaijan,” Azerbaijani expert Grigori Ayvazyan.
– Mr. Ayvazyan, after the meeting in Brussels, Baku media spread information that the issue of the return of Azerbaijanis to Armenia was also included in the agenda of the high-level Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations. The so-called “Community of Western Azerbaijan” organization hastened to welcome this “historical” event. How do you evaluate the policy of bringing this issue to the agenda? What question does the Armenian side need on the negotiation table equivalent to that?
– At least that issue should have been raised a long time ago, the case of the rights of Azerbaijani Armenians. At the state level, this issue has yet to be submitted and needs to be raised; at the public level, it has been done many times; I have raised this issue many times. But how long can it be if we are not Don Quixote? Now there is a formality they allegedly remember, but there is little to remember because the Azerbaijanis have taken inventory and recalculated. On our side, all that has been pulverized, unfortunately, and it is no longer possible to raise this issue at the public level.
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There should be consistency at the state level, which we have not seen and are not seeing. The so-called refugees immediately accepted the citizenship of Azerbaijan, and those leaving the temporarily occupied territories of Artsakh cannot be considered refugees if they do not recognize the independence of Artsakh. But what do we see? Azerbaijan continuously manipulates this issue, and the Armenian side only tries to react. There will come a day when there will be no desire or opportunity to respond.
Let’s revive the issue of the legal rights of Azerbaijani Armenians and put it as a counterweight. Some people respond that Turks will come to live in Yerevan, but Armenians will not go to Azerbaijan. Armenians will not go anywhere to live, but in this situation, at least actions should be taken against this propaganda. We have all heard Charles Michel’s statement that the road should be opened through Aghdam; look where it all leads.
– Putting the issue of the so-called Azerbaijani refugees in the negotiation process, what does it mean for Armenia?
– It depends on who is asking the question. If Azerbaijan raises it, according to their policy, it is correct, they have continually raised this issue, and it has never left their agenda. And it is destructive for us, especially if there is no counterbalance, especially if we try to take formal steps. Non-governmental organizations have taken the matter into their own hands several times. Still, fighting against the Azerbaijani state machine at the public level is difficult. I hope they will understand at least this time, but I only hope. Azerbaijanis are consistent in this matter, have already developed plans, and they already say there are plans in Syunik, Ararat Region, and Sevan basin.
In Ararat Region, it is not only the issue of Tigranashen, which the government recognizes as “Kyarki,” although no one has given you the right to recognize “Kyarki.”
Armenian refugees are decreasing, and Azerbaijanis are increasing, not in actual numbers, but by attribution. Of course, they have no refugees. I will repeat once again: if Azerbaijan considers that people who left Artsakh and the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast are refugees, then it recognizes the independence of Artsakh. Otherwise, they are internally displaced, not refugees. If they don’t consider the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast Azerbaijani territory, that’s fine; then they recognize the independence of Artsakh.
I congratulate our Artsakh people, who have been deprived for a long time. If they say that there were refugees from Armenia, they are lying. In 1992, according to the law on Azerbaijani citizenship, all those who left after receiving compensation from Armenia were considered Azerbaijani citizens at once. According to the law, they never had refugee status. It is hypocrisy if they cancel the 1992 law of the Republic of Azerbaijan. If we work in the right direction, and with the issue of Artsakh, everything will be fine, and such a danger will not hang over our heads again that the Turk will come to the Ararat region, Sevan region, etc. If we play the cards we have correctly, it is possible to prevent this.
Roza HOVHANNISYAN
