Matthew Miller, US State Department Spokesperson, Referred to the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh during his press briefing and information on ethnic cleansing by Azerbaijan against Armenian population.
“So 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. But as always, 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”, Miller said.
Referring to the fact that Nagorno-Karabakh was emptied from Armenian population, Miller said: “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”.
He also answered a question regarding the first report of the UN team mission to Karabakh. ”When you were talking about international – deploying international monitors, is that a mission you had in mind? And if so, is it long term, short term? And does it bounce back to the initial question that my colleague asked: What is your definition or sense of what’s going on right now?”, asked the journalist.
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“We welcome that mission. We continue to work with our allies and partners about what a more long-term mission ought to look like. I don’t have any update on that today. 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.
“Is there any room left for peace agreement?”, asked another reporter, on which Miller answered:
“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”.
