Faced with the exodus of Armenians from the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, the ambassador of Azerbaijan Leyla Abdullayeva, invited on the set of BFMTV, affirms that it is “a desire of the populations not to stay”.
In a few days, 93,000 people, or more than three quarters of the 120,000 official inhabitants of the Nagorno-Karabakh territory, left their homes according to the Armenian authorities. The representative of Nagorno-Karabakh in France, Hovhannès Gevorgyan, guest on the BFMTV set this Saturday evening, speaks of a “real ethnic cleansing”. What the ambassador of Azerbaijan to France, Leyla Abdullayeva, denies, on the same plateau.
“This is not ethnic cleansing, you cannot accuse Azerbaijan of unfounded things,” she exclaims, affirming that “it is time to get rid of false speeches”.
According to her, the exodus of Armenians from this territory is “a desire of the populations not to stay”. “They were not forced” to leave.
The day after the announcement of the dissolution of the self-proclaimed separatist republic, “the populations decided themselves to leave the Nagorno-Karabakh region”, affirms Leyla Abdullayeva who recalls that this territory is “a sovereign land” of Baku, recognized by the international community.
The representative of Nagorno-Karabakh in France reacts to his comments: “If 9/10 of the population leaves their fields, their house, their whole life, it is not because they like hiking, driving , or group trips, it’s because there is a tragic reason. A reason called the dictatorship of Azerbaijan.”
Fear of retaliation
“The reality is that the government of Azerbaijan has asked Armenian residents of Nagorno-Karabakh not to leave their place of residence,” adds the ambassador.
The Armenian population says they fear reprisals: this predominantly Christian region, which seceded from predominantly Muslim Azerbaijan following the disintegration of the USSR, opposed Baku for more than three decades.
Armenians are “fleeing death” says Hovhannès Gevorgyan.
Azerbaijan’s ambassador to France, for her part, underlines that it is “normal” to have “a lack of trust between the two populations because we are coming out of three years of hostilities”.
“We are not going to change the situation overnight,” she says.
Negotiations planned
“We proposed to the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh to have a dialogue. We have already had meetings between the representatives of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh and the central authority of Azerbaijan to have better communication and resolve the problems” , explains Leyla Abdullayeva.
Negotiations between Azerbaijani officials and those in charge of the enclave on the transition are planned for Monday in Stepanakert, reports AFP.
France, however, deplored this Saturday that Baku had not agreed to “the sending of a humanitarian assessment mission to Nagorno-Karabakh” from the United Nations.
“No one believes in the possibility of the two communities cohabitation. Neither the Armenians nor the Azeris are prepared for this option,” estimates Bayram Balci, researcher at Sciences Po in France, speaking to AFP.
After the blitzkrieg led by Baku – which left nearly 600 dead – and the capitulation on September 20, the self-proclaimed separatist republic of Nagorno Karabakh announced its dissolution on January 1, 2024, more than 30 years after its creation.