Azatutyun.am. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is over and Armenia should not prioritize the quick return of the recently displaced Karabakh Armenians to their homes in peace talks with Azerbaijan, parliament speaker Alen Simonian said on Tuesday.
“The Republic of Armenia has no such issue today,” Simonian told journalists when asked about the Karabakh people’s right to self-determination that had for decades been championed by Yerevan. “Armenia fully recognizes the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, including Nagorno-Karabakh.”
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian recognized Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh months before Baku regained full control of the territory as a result of the September 19-20 military offensive that forced its practically entire ethnic Armenian population to flee to Armenia. Pashinian’s political opponents and other domestic critics say that the far-reaching policy change paved the way for the Azerbaijani takeover.
Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mnatsakan Safarian said last week that the issue of the rights of the Karabakh Armenians is “on the agenda” of Yerevan’s dealings with Baku and international mediators. But he did not elaborate.
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Simonian, who is a close associate of Pashinian, was skeptical on this score, saying that the Karabakh refugees are not eager to return to their homes because there are now no realistic mechanisms for guaranteeing their security. He appeared to equate them with ethnic Azerbaijanis who had fled Soviet Armenia in the late 1980s.
“I believe that at this historical stage we must concentrate on signing the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty and opening all regional communication routes,” he said in this regard. “Whether or not some Azerbaijanis will wish to return to Armenia or some Armenians will wish to return to Baku … Stepanakert, Shushi or the other settlements where Armenians used to live is a matter of the future.”
