News - France MEP: Those who will attend COP29 conference in Azerbaijan must call to ensure Karabakh Armenians’ return

In her remarks at the plenary session of the European Parliament Thursday, French MP Nathalie Loiseau, a member of the Subcommittee on Security and Defense of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs, touched upon the Nagorno-Karabakh issue and Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. "A year ago today, Azerbaijan carried out a military attack on Nagorno-Karabakh and forcibly displaced more than 100,000 [Armenian] people, thus leaving the mark of the first ethnic cleansing of the 21st century in history. And after a year, no one still has a chance to return to their home. Azerbaijan continues to hold the captives of the previous conflict as hostages, and they also have no chance to return home. The [Armenian] spiritual and cultural heritage of Nagorno-Karabakh is under threat, and many monuments have already been destroyed [by Azerbaijan]," said Loiseau. The Member of the European Parliament (MEP) emphasized that Azerbaijan has not signed a peace agreement with Armenia yet, but will host the COP29 UN Climate Change Conference in November. "All those who will visit [Azerbaijan’s capital] Baku [for COP29] should consider it their moral duty to call for ensuring the return of Armenians to Nagorno-Karabakh and the release of [Armenian] hostages [in Azerbaijan]. Our struggle for the globe cannot be carried out at the expense of these people", concluded the MEP.