Editor’s note: The following is a translated and republished statement from ARFD.am. Translation from Armenian by our team; minor edits for clarity. Headline retained from the original.
Five “civil society” representatives from Armenia have gone to Baku
The government has allocated 17.5 million drams to organize a direct flight for transporting the “Armenian” delegation, and the purpose of the visit has been justified as building trust between the societies of the two states.
In Baku, the sham trials over the military-political leadership of Artsakh and the other captives continue, and a few days ago the Azerbaijani Prosecutor’s Office asked the court to sentence Arayik Harutyunyan, Davit Ishkhanyan, Davit Manukyan, Levon Mnatsakanyan and Davit Babayan to life imprisonment, and our other compatriots to 16–20 years in prison.
Meanwhile, the civil society representatives currently in Baku have already announced that their program does not include an agenda of visiting the captives.
In reality, this is not a step aimed at building trust between the two peoples, but an attempt to wash Aliyev’s bloodstained hands and to legitimize the ethnic cleansing and genocide that took place in Artsakh.
Under conditions of humiliation, degradation and injustice, under fear and threat, neither peace is built nor trust is formed.
All of these attempts by Aliyev and his accomplice Pashinyan have failed. It must be recorded that the Azerbaijani side has merely held an open meeting with its agents of influence; they have nothing whatsoever to do with the Armenian people or with Armenia’s civil society.
Ishkhan Saghatelyan
Representative of the ARF Armenia Supreme Body,
Member of the RA National Assembly “Hayastan” faction
