French human rights activists confirm absence of ethnic cleansing in Karabakh

The French human rights organization “Coordination des Associations et des Particuliers pour la Liberté de Conscience” (CAP Freedom of Conscience) has confirmed that there was no ethnic cleansing by Azerbaijan against the Karabakh Armenians, Report informs referring to the publication of CAP-LC in response to the petition of the European Center for Law and Justice, which demands the suspension of Azerbaijan’s membership in the Council of Europe.

Based on the results of the monitoring conducted by this French organization, it is emphasized that the absence of threats against the civilians was confirmed by PM Pashinyan: “The situation is generally stable. Information about mass casualties among civilians doesn’t correspond to reality. Today, there is no direct threat to the civilian population of Nagorno-Karabakh,” he said in September.

In turn, the representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Armenia, Kavita Belani, stated that there were no recorded incidents of cruel treatment of Armenians living in Karabakh.

The CAP-LC statement notes that the Azerbaijani authorities both declared guarantees of safety for Karabakh Armenians willing to stay and launched a special e-tool for those who might wish to return: “Web portal (http://reintegration.gov.az) contains in several languages, including Armenian, information on social, economic and legal aspects on integration of Karabakh Armenians into Azerbaijani society.”

Thus, an objective analysis does not support occurrence of either “coercion” or “prevention to return” to support the claims to present mass exodus of Karabakh Armenians as “ethnic cleansing,” the authors say.

“An organization ironically called the “European Center for Law and Justice” initiated a petition demanding the suspension of Azerbaijan’s membership in the Council of Europe on the same grounds on which Russia was suspended,” CAP-LC notes, and gives reasons, according to which this demand is unfair and deceptive.

“In sharp contrast to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Azerbaijan acted on its own territory and per international law. The operation lasted less than a day. Visual data confirmed the presence in Karabakh of hundreds of pieces of heavy equipment, artillery and air defense systems, millions of ammunition, and dozens of fortified areas. At the same time, the UN mission that visited the region twice reported NO destruction of any civilian infrastructure. Thus, the operation targeted exclusively the military infrastructure of illegal armed groups,” representatives of the CAP-LC organization said.

CAP Freedom of Conscience is a European NGO in consultative status with the UN, established in 1995, dedicated to protecting the right to freedom of religion or belief. This organization fights all forms of discrimination, notifying European and international bodies about it.