By Ruzanna Stepanian
YEREVAN (Azatutyun) — Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan again made it clear on Tuesday, September 30, that his government will not press Azerbaijan to enable Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian population displaced by the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive to return to its homeland.
Speaking at the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), Pashinyan said that discussing the repatriation of the Karabakh Armenians and other refugees from the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict would be “dangerous for the peace process.”
“As for our compatriots who are refugees from Karabakh, our understanding of this issue is that with our support and that of the international community, Karabakh refugees should settle down in Armenia … and we envision the future of our compatriots from Karabakh in Armenia and with Armenian citizenship,” he said.
Answering a question from a non-Armenian member of the Strasbourg-based body, Pashinyan reiterated that he believes the return of the Karabakh refugees is “not realistic.”
“I consider the topic of the return of all refugees in this context to be dangerous for the peace process because the Karabakh conflict began with seemingly simple humanitarian issues and escalated into a long-term conflict,” he said.
