Swiss 1 — Swiss National Councilor Erich Vontobel addresses an audience at the US Capitol (photo CSI)

Armenia & Karabakh International Ethnic Cleansing

Swiss Peace Initiative for Nagorno Karabakh Holds Congressional Briefing in DC

July 11, 2025

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The Armenian Mirror-Spectator

73

WASHINGTON – “Does the US believe that a favorable and lasting peace in the South Caucasus – a region of growing geopolitical and economic significance – can be built on the basis of ethno-religious cleansing?” Dr. John Eibner, the president of Christian Solidarity International, posed the question to a packed room in the Rayburn House Office Building on Tuesday, July 8.

“If the answer is no, then the US should provide support for Switzerland’s peace initiative.”

In Washington, D.C., a delegation from the Swiss Peace Initiative for Nagorno Karabakh held a congressional briefing at the US Capitol. Two members of the Swiss parliament, Erich Vontobel and Lukas Reimann, as well as Dr. Eibner and Vartan Oskanian, the former foreign minister of Armenia, spoke about the Initiative and the opportunity it presents for the United States to help establish lasting peace in the South Caucasus, after 37 years of war.

A recording of the event is available to watch online.

In 2023, Azerbaijan blockaded Nagorno Karabakh (also known as Artsakh) for nine months before launching a military invasion of the region, leading to the forced exodus of its entire population – nearly 120,000 Armenian Christians. 30,000 more were forcibly displaced in the 2020 Karabakh War.

In March of this year, the Swiss parliament passed a motion to hold an international peace forum between Azerbaijan and the representatives of the displaced Armenians, to negotiate a framework for their safe return.

Erich Vontobel, who introduced the motion in the Swiss parliament last year, spoke of meeting refugees from Nagorno Karabakh in Armenia. “They said to me, please do something so that we can return,” he said. “One woman showed me a video of her house, now occupied by another family. That sight broke my heart. That’s when I knew I must act.”

Citing Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vontobel pointed out “there is a real risk of renewed conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia.” On a visit to southern Armenia, locals shared their fear with Vontobel that, after the fall of Nagorno Karabakh, Azerbaijan will attack their region next. “If we close our eyes” to what happened in Karabakh, he said, Azerbaijan will “see that they can do such things and there are no consequences.”

Lukas Reimann, another member of the Swiss parliament, said that Azerbaijan’s “state-sponsored starvation and military violence reminiscent of the Armenian Genocide” had “caused great distress in Switzerland.” He pointed out that the Swiss Peace Initiative had received support from members of all 10 parties in the Swiss parliament – an unusually broad swath of support.

“We cannot accept and will not accept that these families cannot return to their home,” he said. “We will help them to get back there.”

Former foreign minister Vartan Oskanian, who currently chairs the Committee for the Defense of the Fundamental Rights of the People of Nagorno Karabakh, a body established by the Artsakh National Assembly in exile, pointed out that Nagorno Karabakh was “inhabited by Armenians for centuries, and in the past 30 years, Nagorno Karabakh Armenians had full self-rule and a democratic life on that territory.”

Nevertheless, Oskanian said that Karabakh Armenians “have come to terms with the new realities on the ground” and are not seeking “to go back to the status quo ante. They simply want to go back home.”

The Armenian Mirror-Spectator

Topics: Ethnic Cleansing

People: Erich Vontobel, John Eibner, Lukas Reimann, Vartan Oskanian

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While Oskanian recognized that “the United States views Azerbaijan as a partner on many levels,” he said that “these geopolitical considerations do not justify silence on the expulsion of 150,000 people from their homes. This sends the wrong message, and sets a very dangerous precedent.”

With US support, Oskanian said, the Swiss Peace Initiative could make return a reality.

“The Swiss Peace Initiative does not call for sanctions or intervention,” Vontobel said. “It calls for a table, a place for dialogue, where even the displaced have a seat.”

Vontobel noted that in the 2024 election campaign, “President Trump promised to end the ethnic cleansing of Christians” in Nagorno Karabakh. “He speaks to my heart. Our interests and values align. The Swiss Peace Initiative offers the U.S. a chance to support peace without taking on direct risk.”

“We in Switzerland can do it,” Vontobel concluded. “What we need now is broad international support – above all from the US. I therefore ask you to publicly endorse the Swiss Peace Initiative.”

The congressional briefing is part of a three-day visit by the delegation to policymakers in Washington, D.C. The briefing was co-organized with the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) and moderated by Mark Milosch, Congressional Staff Director for Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ). More information about the Swiss Peace Initiative is available at www.swisspeacekarabakh.com.

[Members of the Swiss Peace Initiative for Nagorno Karabakh also met during their trip with Vice President Vance’s national security team, the office of the Speaker of the US House, and key Senate offices, to discuss international efforts to realize the right of return for the ethnically-cleansed Armenians of Artsakh, according to Oskanian’s Facebook post of July 11. In addition, they were received by the Swiss ambassador to Washington.]

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