News - RA MFA: UN press release issued after Karabakh visit is extremely biased and doesn’t reflect situation on the ground

The Armenian Foreign Ministry has published a comment on the October 2 visit of the delegation led by the UN Resident Coordinator to Nagorno-Karabakh. Below is comment of the Foreign Ministry. "Armenia received with deep concern and disappointment the information regarding the visit of the delegation led by the UN Resident Coordinator in Azerbaijan to Nagorno-Karabakh and the press release issued based on its "results". The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia spoke about the issue on October 2 at the meeting with the heads of diplomatic missions accredited in the Republic of Armenia and representatives of international institutions held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. First of all, it should be noted that the October 2nd visit of the delegation of the UN Resident Coordinator to Azerbaijan cannot be considered an inter-agency fact-finding mission and has nothing to do with the expectations of the Armenian side and the international community. Moreover, the visit of the delegation took place only when, because of ethnic cleansing, Nagorno-Karabakh was completely deprived of its native Armenian population. As an objective assessment, the UN delegation could only record the fact of the depopulation of Nagorno-Karabakh, witnessing how the people of Nagorno-Karabakh left behind their native places, the graves of their relatives and centuries-old cultural and religious heritage. Let's remind that since the blocking of the Lachin Corridor, for months, the Armenian side has been involved with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and other units of the UN Secretariat, calling for the dispatch of a UN inter-agency fact-finding mission to Nagorno-Karabakh to assess the humanitarian and human rights situation that emerged as a result of the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh and to respond to the humanitarian needs of the NK population. The issue was repeatedly raised during meetings with the UN Secretary General. Many international human rights organizations, independent lawyers, genocide scholars expressed concern about the existential dangers facing the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, pointing out the risks of criminal crimes. The only humanitarian organization present in Nagorno-Karabakh, the International Committee of the Red Cross, expressed concern in its statement that it is unable to provide humanitarian assistance to the civilian population through the Lachin corridor. All these reports and assessments, which also showed a clear disregard for the UN commitment to "leave no one behind", showed the seriousness of the situation, which was, in fact, ignored by the UN. The press release issued after the visit is extremely biased and does not reflect the situation on the ground. It does not have any reference to the numerous casualties and injuries caused by the large-scale attack by Azerbaijan, the targeting of civilian infrastructure, the blockade of the Lachin corridor for more than nine months and the resulting humanitarian crisis, the abduction of citizens by the Azerbaijani special services from the illegal checkpoint near the Hakari Bridge, and other facts known to international partners. The visit of the UN Resident Coordinator's delegation to Azerbaijan was used by Azerbaijan to promote its propaganda perceptions and legitimize the large-scale attack on Nagorno-Karabakh and its consequences. Armenia expects a clear response from the UN to ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh, gross violations of fundamental human rights of the NK people and international humanitarian law, in accordance with the fundamental principles of international law and the UN Charter.”