Public Union of Azerbaijani community of Nagorno Karabakh issued a statement in protest against the reports released by Armenian press about resettlement of Syrian Armenians in occupied Nagorno Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.
The statement reads: "Armenians supporting the Syria regime due to situation in the country escape Syria in fear of further developments, the issue of their resettlement in Azerbaijan's occupied territories has been recently discussed in Armenia. According to information, it was proposed to establish a "Public Council for resettlement" for resettling the Syrian Armenians encamping in the occupied territories. All of these caused a sharp protest by Azerbaijani people, including Azerbaijani community of Nagorno Karabakh region, these initiatives were discussed and condemned at the meeting of board of directors of the Public Union of Azerbaijani community of Nagorno Karabakh region of Azerbaijan Republic.
It was noted that the Azerbaijanis, who lived historically in Nagorno Karabakh region, assess this artificial "resettlement" policy as a flagrant violation of Azerbaijani Constitution and norms and principles of the international law, as well as the initiatives to increase artificially the Armenian population in Azerbaijani lands as a purposeful step: "Namely, Armenian government considers that the resettlement of Syrian Armenians in Karabakh will have an effect in certain manner on ethnic composition of the region, it will let Armenian nationalists to claim that the number of Armenians in Karabakh is more than Azerbaijanis. Undoubtedly, Armenians resettling from Syria represent mostly the poor and middle class of population. That is why the government of Armenia that has been keeping Azerbaijani lands under occupation for 20 years and reduced Armenian people to poverty, considers that the Armenians, who escape Syria, can be resettled in Nagorno Karabakh. The Armenian government grants certain discounts and renders assistances to Armenians resettling in Karabakh.
We consider that by such illegal acts Armenia brings to naught all peaceful talks held within the OSCE Minsk Group, the initiatives of international unions to create peace and cooperation in the region and the possibilities of dialog between the communities. The entire world knows that unrecognized separatist regime in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan is based on ethnic cleansing of Azerbaijani population and is a criminal organization established by Armenia. We consider that the initiatives of Armenia implemented for maintaining the status-quo as long as possible and concealing the essence of its occupying policy, were put forward earlier. The resettlement of Armenians from different countries, including Syria seriously damages not only the negotiation process, but the region's future status and development. The Azerbaijani community of Nagorno Karabakh expresses hope that the international community will strongly condemn Armenia's non-constructive actions and take the most effective measures to put an end to this country's "resettlement" and occupation policy.

AzerTAc