Genuine and durable peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan must address  Artsakh people`s right to return to their homeland collectively -  Karnig Kerkonian

ArmInfo.The right of the forcibly displaced Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh to return to their indigenous homeland remains before the international community and today at the UN Human Rights Council, reads a Facebook post by Karnig Kerkonian. 


"A genuine and durable peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan must address the Artsakh people's right to return to their homeland collectively, under security and protection, and with their fundamental rights - including their right to self-determination - intact. Ethnic cleansing is not a road to peace. It never has been," reads the post. 


At the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, international lawyer Karnig Kerkonian, speaking on behalf of Christian Solidarity International (CSI), raised the situation of the people of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) on March 16. 


"Azerbaijan forcibly displaced 150,000 indigenous Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh and continues to block their safe return, in violation of the ICJ order of 17 November 2023," Kerkonian told the Council. 


He also warned that Azerbaijan is continuing the destruction of Armenian cultural and religious heritage while 20 Armenians from Artsakh remain arbitrarily detained, subjected to torture and sham trials without access to lawyers or evidence. 


"The people of Nagorno-Karabakh seek the most fundamental of human rights: the right to return to their indigenous homeland," he said.