Conference on ethnic cleansing of Azerbaijanis by Armenia to be held in US Congress

The international conference titled “The Right to Return and Self-Determination: Double Standards and Selective Approaches” will take place on June 24 in the US Congress, organized by the Baku Initiative Group (BIG).

1news.az was informed by BIG that this is the first such event in Congress dedicated to the ethnic cleansing to which Azerbaijanis were subjected by Armenia.

It is reported that the conference will be attended by experts specializing in the protection of the rights of refugees and national minorities, human rights defenders, specialists in international law, representatives of diaspora organizations that have faced violence, discrimination, and ethnic persecution, representatives of civil society institutions, and affected communities.

Using the example of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis forcibly expelled from their historical lands in Armenia as a result of ethnic cleansing policies, participants will discuss keeping the recognition of their fundamental rights — the right to a safe, voluntary, and dignified return to their historical lands — at the center of attention of international organizations.

Views will be exchanged on opportunities to bring to the international level a legal assessment of the facts of systematic destruction, desecration, and appropriation of the cultural, religious, and historical heritage of the Azerbaijani people remaining in Armenia, including toponyms, mosques, cemeteries, shrines, and other monuments. Prospects will also be discussed for raising these violations to the level of international reporting and monitoring mechanisms within the UN and its specialized structures, conducting investigations and on-site documentation, and developing investigation and reporting mechanisms at the level of special rapporteurs and other holders of international mandates.

The event will also feature discussions on the realization of the right to self-determination of peoples suffering from colonialism, in particular on including on the UN agenda the question of adding colonies to the UN list of non-self-governing territories subject to decolonization.

It was noted that throughout the 20th century, Western Azerbaijanis were subjected several times — in 1905–1906, 1918–1920, 1948–1953, and 1987–1991 — to systematic forced expulsion and ethnic cleansing from their historical lands located on the territory of present-day Armenia. As a result of this process, hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis were expelled from their native places, many people were killed, subjected to torture and inhuman treatment, and the socio-spiritual and economic foundations of families were destroyed: “The policy of ethnic cleansing was not limited to the physical removal of the Azerbaijani population from its historical lands but was also aimed at erasing its cultural, religious, and historical heritage formed over centuries. Mosques, cemeteries, shrines, and other examples of the material and cultural heritage of the Azerbaijani people located in Armenia were destroyed, desecrated, or appropriated; more than 2,000 toponyms of Azerbaijani origin were changed and Armenianized, thereby implementing a systematic policy aimed at falsifying the historical memory and ethnocultural identity of the region.

The 1951 Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees affirms the right to return as one of the most important requirements of international law for restoring the rights of persons displaced as a result of ethnic cleansing. From this point of view, ensuring the safe, voluntary, and dignified return to their historical homes of Western Azerbaijanis forcibly expelled from the territory of present-day Armenia, and restoring their rights to housing, land, property, and cultural and religious heritage, should be assessed in the context of Armenia’s international legal responsibility.”