In order to make the voice of Armenian refugees, their expectations and demands heard, the conference “Old and new refugees of Azerbaijani aggression: the past, the present, the future” was launched at the K. Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex, within the framework of which the authorized representatives of the non-governmental organizations that initiated the conference adopted a declaration.

ARMENPRESS presents the text of the declaration.

“Accepted by the refugees of Azerbaijan, Artsakh and Nakhichevan during the conference “Old and new refugees of Azerbaijani aggression: the past, the present, the future” held on April 29, 2023 in Yerevan, we, the authorized representatives of the non-governmental organizations that initiated the conference,

Noting that since the foundation of 1918, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, Azerbaijan SSR and the current Republic of Azerbaijan have been conducting and are conducting a xenophobic, especially anti-Armenian, racist policy, which aimed and has the goal of expelling from their ancestral homelands or eliminating hundreds of thousands of our compatriots,

Considering that in 1988-1991 in Azerbaijani SSR, and in 1992 in the Republic of Azerbaijan the genocidal actions encouraged by the state (Armenian pogroms in Sumgait, Baku, Kirovabad, forced deportation of Armenians from Northern Karabakh accompanied by pogroms) have not been subjected to any legal investigation,

As a result of the genocidal actions of Azerbaijan, hundreds of thousands of our compatriots immigrated to Armenia, were recognized as refugees, or sought asylum by fleeing to other countries.

Over the past thirty years, numerous complaints addressed to the UN Human Rights Committee regarding the return of Armenian refugees and forcibly displaced persons to their homeland and compensation for their property losses have not received a legal solution and remained unanswered.

Bearing in mind that refugees and forcibly displaced persons have the right to voluntary return to their homeland or the part of the homeland in which their physical security, political and civil rights can be ensured according to a number of international treaties, and the danger for Armenian refugees and displaced persons have not only not disappeared, but also after 1988, hatred against Armenians and threats of reprisals were strengthened by state policy in Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan,

Considering that in 1988-1992 then, during the thirty years, Azerbaijan’s anti-Armenian, racist policy only strengthened, and, as a result of the 44-day war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh on September 27, 2020, thousands of Armenians were forcibly displaced from Artsakh and found refuge in Armenia and other countries, and internally displaced persons accumulated in Artsakh, which caused enormous problems related to refugees in the Republic of Armenia and Artsakh,

Considering that the Artsakh refugees of 2020 still do not have a clear legal status, as a result of which they may be excluded from the scope and protection of the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees.

Taking into account that our compatriots who were forcibly displaced from Azerbaijan and Artsakh and temporarily or permanently lost their permanent home are in serious need of political, legal, social, economic and humanitarian support, and the remaining Armenians in Artsakh are under serious threat of Azerbaijani use of force,

Finding that the authorities of the Republic of Armenia, despite the many requests and demands of refugees from the territories under the control of Azerbaijan and forcibly displaced persons who have taken refuge in Armenia and the public organizations representing their interests, a/ during the 35 years, have conducted an exclusively humanitarian-social policy towards them, b/ did not plan and pursue a legal investigation process for the obviously anti-Armenian, racist policy of Azerbaijan, in our opinion, did not even have a strategy for the issues of the return of refugees to the territory of Azerbaijan’s control and compensation for property losses, c/ did not take into account the political interests and prospects of the refugees sheltered in Armenia, d/ have been very passive, especially in the fight against the falsification of our history and our national identity, the destruction of our cultural heritage, which has intensified in Azerbaijan in the last 35 years,

Seeing that even the agreement in point 7 of the declaration of November 9, 2020 signed between the Presidents of Azerbaijan, Russia and the Prime Minister of Armenia on the new refugees resulted by the aggressive, criminal war of 2020, which says that “Internally displaced persons and refugees return to the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and neighboring regions under the supervision of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees” is not being implemented, while the Azerbaijani authorities are unilaterally implementing it, they are already settling the places abandoned by Armenian refugees with people of unknown identity and origin without any supervision,

We announce:

The Governments of the Republic of Armenia and Artsakh should initiate an international political and legal process (including an international judicial process) to call Azerbaijan responsible and demand compensation for the genocidal actions carried out in Azerbaijan (including the Armenian pogroms in the cities of Sumgait, Baku, Kirovabad encouraged and organized by the Azerbaijani state).

The protection of violated rights and interests of our compatriots who fled from Azerbaijan and Artsakh and were forcibly displaced should be recognized as a priority of the Republics of Armenia and Artsakh.

All damage inflicted on refugees and forcibly displaced persons shall be subject to adequate, just compensation. The amount and forms of compensation for damages to refugees and forcibly displaced persons should be determined according to internationally recognized principles.

All Armenian refugees and displaced persons, at least those who want to, should be given the opportunity to return to their homeland, a place of their choice, and there should be all guarantees for their physical, political and civil security, including security for their identity.’

The full text of the Declaration is available in the source website.