Armenia hinders the reintegration of Karabakh Armenians into Azerbaijan – J.Bayramov

Baku/13.09.23/Turan: Azerbaijan guarantees the rights and freedoms provided for by the country's Constitution to the Armenians of Karabakh, but Armenia is trying to evade its obligations to normalize relations between the two countries, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Ceyhun Bayramov stated on Wednesday at the 54th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The Azerbaijani government, he stressed, has undertaken to reintegrate ethnic Armenians living in the Karabakh region as equal citizens within the framework of political, legal, social and economic relations, he added.

According to the Minister, Azerbaijan guarantees the Karabakh Armenians the observance of all rights and freedoms stipulated by the Constitution of the country. However, Armenia is trying to evade its obligations to normalize relations between the two countries and actively promotes ethnic hatred, distorts facts, misleads the international community, and interferes in the affairs of Azerbaijan.

Bayramov also pointed out that Armenia does not provide information about 4 thousand missing Azerbaijanis during the First Karabakh War and prevents the cleaning of Azerbaijani territories from hundreds of thousands of mines. Over the past 30 years, more than 3,300 Azerbaijanis have been victims of mines.

Bayramov also pointed to the expulsion of 200 thousand Azerbaijanis from Armenia in 1987-1991, the massive change of Azerbaijani toponyms. The Armenian Government refuses dialogue and ignores the right to return these people to their places of residence, violating international legal norms.

"It is necessary that Armenia be held accountable for violations of the rights of Azerbaijanis," he said. ---06B---