By Ruzanna Stepanian
YEREVAN (Azatutyun) — Iran believes that Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian population displaced by last year’s Azerbaijani offensive must be able to return to the region and live there in security, the Iranian ambassador to Armenia, Mehdi Sobhani, said on Friday, July 12.
“Our position regarding the rights of Karabakh residents is clear,” Sobhani told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service in an exclusive interview. “We recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and emphasize it, but at the same time we believe that the rights of the Armenian residents of Karabakh should be respected.”
“The issue is like a wound, and that wound must be healed,” he said. “If that wound is not healed it may open again. When we talk about sustainable peace that wound should also be taken into account.”
Sobhani noted that the more than 100,000 Karabakh Armenians fled to Armenia last September because they “did not feel safe.”
“They did not come here voluntarily, and we hope that conditions will be created for them to return to their homes voluntarily,” he said.
