Pashinyan Addresses Azerbaijan’s Attempted Ethnic Cleansing of Armenians in Artsakh at Summit of Democracy

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan gave a speech at the second online Summit for Democracy held at the initiative of U.S. President Joe Biden in an online format.

The conference involved 120 countries, however the Biden Administration did not invite NATO allies Turkey and Hungary to the event.

In his speech, Armenian’s PM said, “Along with strengthening the democratic institutions in our country, in September, 2022, we had to encounter an aggression against the internationally recognised territory of the Republic of Armenia, which resulted in the occupation of part of our sovereign territory by Azerbaijan.

It was back in September that we felt the union of democracies and the clear condemnation of aggression against Armenia. I want to take this opportunity and extend our gratitude to the United States and other partners that helped us stop the further incursion through diplomatic engagement.

Armenia feels strongly about the human rights violations across the world and there is a lot that we need to do together to prevent genocides, ethnic-cleansings and atrocities. Whatever is happening with Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh today, the blockade of the Lachin corridor by Azerbaijan and the humanitarian crisis resulting from it, is definitely an attempt of ethnic cleansing of Armenians in NK. And we cannot turn a blind eye on that. At the same time, I reiterate that Armenia remains committed to the peace process with Azerbaijan. We are convinced that there is no alternative to the peaceful development of the region and that sticking to democratic values will help us find a way to peace.