Artsakh’s Human Rights Defender Gegham Stepanyan on Sunday said that Artsakh cannot be a part of Azerbaijan under any status negotiation, calling his posturing a “red line” for the people of Artsakh.

Stepanyan was speaking during an interview with News.am’s Power Factor program and responding to statements made in Armenia’s parliament last week, when Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan blamed the international community for “forcing” Armenia to engage in peace talks with Azerbaijan, which is demanding the complete recognition of its territorial integrity.

“There is a clear boundary that Artsakh can’t be part of Azerbaijan. We clarify our position as follows: In order to protect the rights and freedoms of the people of Artsakh, it can never have any status within Azerbaijan. The lowest reference point that we can set is that the rights of the people of Artsakh cannot exist without their right to self-determination,” said Stepanyan who said any option without the self-determination aspect is “delusional.”

“War crimes and acts of genocide during the 44-day war are vivid evidence that the people of Artsakh, being a part of Azerbaijan, cannot have guaranteed rights, even if the most combat-ready peacekeeping forces and international organizations are deployed in Artsakh,” explained Stepanyan.

“This is not an emotional assessment; it is a fact. How can a generation that grew up with hatred toward Armenians for 30 years guarantee the rights of those who have forced hatred towards them?” Stepanyan noted.

He emphasized that if a decision is made that is does not correspond to Artsakh’s interests “both the civil society and the elected government will boycott it.”

“I hope that the negotiators from the Armenian side understand that they cannot just make an object out of the people of Artsakh and not take into account their opinions and go and negotiate something which is simply unacceptable to the people on whose behalf they are negotiating,” said Stepanyan.

“Even if we achieve that, I’m sure that both the people of Artsakh and the elected government will boycott that solution, which will then be put in the international arena. If that happens, the people of Artsakh will have to negotiate on their own behalf. After all, we speak about more than 100,000, whose destiny shouldn’t be decided by the signature of either Armenia, or the international community, or Azerbaijan,” explained Stepanyan.

“During the meeting, my main task was to present the humanitarian situation in Artsakh and the consequences of Azerbaijan’s criminal actions, and to make it clear that human rights cannot be ignored,” Stepanyan explained about his meeting last month with the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Zbigbiew Rau.

“It seems acceptable to everyone that there are rights to be protected, but in the end it is political interests that guide everything. And I did not see any interest in terms of the real protection of Artsakh people’s rights,” Stepanyan told News.am.