France 24 spoke with Artak Beglarian, former minister of state and human rights ombudsman of Nagorno-Karabakh. The peace declaration between Armenia and Azerbaijan last August in Washington raised cautious hopes, but the situation remains difficult for displaced residents of Nagorno-Karabakh. “This is relatively good news,” Beglarian said, “but nothing is written about Nagorno-Karabakh and the people of Nagorno-Karabakh in this declaration.”
In August, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a peace declaration in Washington in the presence of US President Donald Trump. In an interview with France 24, Aliyev said that “peace has been achieved” with Armenia.
But according to Beglarian, the deal is too small. “The declaration says nothing about the rights, security or status of the 150,000 people of Nagorno-Karabakh. Nobody contacted us. (…) At least politically, yes, we were betrayed by the Armenian authorities.”
Since Azerbaijan regained control of the region in 2023, almost all Armenians have fled. “We were forcibly displaced. The pain of my people is immense.” The former minister of state was highly critical of the Armenian government.
“Prime Minister Pashinyan is proud of the results and says we should forget about our return. That is nonsense. Armenia was a party to the conflict and hosted refugees and should have done everything to protect our rights.”
Beglarian described the ongoing violations and abuses of human rights. Aliyev refuses to grant amnesty to Nagorno-Karabakh separatist leaders sentenced to life imprisonment.
“Aliyev himself is a Nazi leader. He and his regime have committed crimes against humanity, including genocide against our people,” Beglaryan said.
Beglarian, who was blinded by a landmine accident, says the Azerbaijani authorities wanted to punish him personally. “I never fought, I only defended the rights of my people, but we were punished for our existence.”
(tags to translate)Middle East
