Iran believes that Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian population displaced by last year’s Azerbaijani offensive must be able to return to the region and live there in security, the Iranian ambassador to Armenia, Mehdi Sobhani, said on Friday.
“Our position regarding the rights of Karabakh residents is clear,” Sobhani told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service in an exclusive interview. “We recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and emphasize it, but at the same time we believe that the rights of the Armenian residents of Karabakh should be respected.”
“The issue is like a wound, and that wound must be healed,” he said. “If that wound is not healed it may open again. When we talk about sustainable peace that wound should also be taken into account.”
Sobhani noted that the more than 100,000 Karabakh Armenians fled to Armenia last September because they “did not feel safe.”
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“They did not come here voluntarily, and we hope that conditions will be created for them to return to their homes voluntarily,” he said.
Asked whether their repatriation and security require an autonomous status for Karabakh, the envoy replied, “There should be dialogue and negotiation about it. We and you must not make a decision for them.” He did not say explicitly that such talks should be between Baku and Karabakh Armenian leaders.
Azerbaijan denies forcing the Karabakh Armenians to flee their homeland and says they can live there under Azerbaijani rule. Karabakh’s leaders and ordinary residents rejected such an option even before the Azerbaijani offensive. Some of those leaders have said after the exodus that only “international guarantees” could convince the refugees to return home.
Armenia’s government, which has accused Baku of carrying out ethnic cleansing in Karabakh, does not seem to be seeking such guarantees. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has repeatedly indicated that the Karabakh issue is closed for his administration.
