Western Azerbaijan Community

In response to the biased statement by Marija Pejčinović Burić, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, dated July 28 regarding the issue of supplies for the Armenian residents of the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, the Western Azerbaijan Community expresses its serious concern with the Council of Europe’s support for Armenia’s fraudulent propaganda and the demonstration of double standards.

The issue of supplies for the Armenians living in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan is nothing but nonsense created by Armenia to mislead the international opinion. In particular, on Armenia’s instructions, a group of separatist criminals have blocked the roads from other regions of Azerbaijan to the areas where Armenians live in Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region, demanding an exclusive and uncontrolled route of supplies from Armenia. Armenia, which is desperately looking for a way to supply its 10,000-strong military contingent in the Karabakh region, is trying to blackmail Azerbaijan, undermine Azerbaijan's sovereignty over the said territory and invigorate separatist tendencies there.

It is therefore regrettable that Armenia's false narratives about a “humanitarian crisis” are reflected in the latest statement of the Council of Europe.

The Western Azerbaijan Community, which includes hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis who suffered from ethnic cleansing by Armenia, strongly condemns the double standards and hypocrisy on the part of the Council of Europe, as it turns a blind eye to the suffering of nearly one million Azerbaijanis who were forcibly expelled from Armenia and the occupied territories of Azerbaijan in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It should be noted that Armenia is still denying the right of Western Azerbaijanis, victims of mass expulsion and ethnic cleansing, to return to their ancestral lands.

“The fact that the Council of Europe, which describes itself as a “champion of human rights”, remains indifferent to the rights of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis who were subjected to the ethnic cleansing policy of Armenia but immediately pays attention to the fake “humanitarian crisis” in question reveals true nature of its biased approach. This is contrary to the goals and principles set out in the Charter of the Council, the European Convention on Human Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Council of Europe should instead be actively defending the rights of expelled Azerbaijanis to return to their homes in Armenia, thus contributing to the elimination of the injustice committed against them.

We call on the Council of Europe to revisit its position, reject Armenia's false propaganda, end its prejudice and discrimination against Azerbaijanis, and maintain a commitment to justice”