A member of Artsakh’s (Nagorno Karabakh Republic) exiled leadership said on Tuesday that concrete steps are being taken for the eventual repatriation of the region’s ethnic Armenian population displaced by last September’s Azerbaijani military offensive.
Gagik Baghunts, the acting Artsakh parliament speaker, conveyed to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, “Our struggle will continue. The Armenians of Artsakh will not accept the idea that we have closed the page of Artsakh, and the desire to return will always stay with us. I hope that we will have significant success in that direction already in the not-so-distant future.”
Baghunts declined to elaborate on these efforts but expressed readiness for cooperation with world powers and even contacts with Azerbaijani authorities, though he did not confirm any such contacts.
The Azerbaijani government maintains that Artsakh Armenians are free to return if they agree to live under Azerbaijani rule. However, Artsakh’s leaders and residents have rejected this option even before the offensive, and none of the more than 100,000 Artsakh refugees have expressed a desire to return home under current circumstances.
The Russian Foreign Ministry stated last week that Moscow and Baku are discussing prospects for the Armenian population’s return to Artsakh. Gegham Stepanian, Artsakh’s human rights ombudsman, dismissed the statement, insisting that only international guarantees could convince Artsakh Armenians to return.
Armenia’s government does not appear to be seeking such guarantees. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has repeatedly indicated that the Artsakh issue is closed for his administration.
In late December, Pashinyan’s political allies criticized Samvel Shahramanian, the Artsakh president, after he nullified his September 28 decree liquidating the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Shahramanian explained that he signed the decree to halt the Azerbaijani assault and ensure the safe evacuation of Artsakh Armenians to Armenia.
Shahramanian, Baghunts, and other Yerevan-based Artsakh leaders commemorated the 36th anniversary of the popular movement for Artsakh’s unification with Armenia by laying flowers at the Yerablur military ceremony in Yerevan on Tuesday. Later, the Artsakh legislature convened a special session.
For the first time, Pashinyan refrained from issuing a statement on the anniversary. Previously, in February 2020, he had stated, “Both in 1988 and today, the realization of peoples’ right to self-determination and democratic freedoms remain a clear goal for us,” but he ceased championing that right in early 2022 and publicly recognized Azerbaijani sovereignty over Artsakh a year later. Critics argue that this policy shift paved the way for Baku’s recapture of the region. Reportedly, Pashinyan has declined to meet Shahramanian and other Artsakh leaders since they sought refuge in Armenia.
Pashinyan asserted in December 2023, “Armenia did not have a foreign policy, it had an Artsakh policy. Armenia did not have a security agenda, it had an Artsakh security agenda. The resources that we should have invested in creating the Republic of Armenia, we have invested in creating the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.”
