Oskanian: The right of return is no longer only the demand of a  dispossessed people, it is the will of the international community

ArmInfo.Former Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian has identified two  important developments on the right of return for Artsakh Armenians.  In his Facebook post, he writes the following:

"Two years have passed since Azerbaijan's attack on Nagorno Karabakh,  which led to the exodus of its entire Armenian population, and the  issue of return continues to gain undeniable international traction.  I want to share two important developments.

In Washington, the State Department has registered progress by  acknowledging three priorities at the core of a just settlement  between Armenia and Azerbaijan: the right of Artsakh Armenians to  return, the release of Armenian political prisoners held in  Azerbaijan, and the protection of Armenian Christian cultural  heritage. Congressman Frank Pallone announced today on the X platform  that the State Department, responding to a letter sent several weeks  ago by about 90 members of Congress to Secretary of State Marco  Rubio, has pledged to pursue these issues. This shift is the result  of the persistent efforts of the Armenian National Committee of  America, the Committee for the Defense of the Rights of the People of  Nagorno- Karabakh, as well as Armenian-Americans and their allies.  Against the backdrop of Baku's denials and Yerevan's silence, the  U.S. has now spoken officially. The matter is no longer about  recognition of these principles, but about their implementation.

At the same time today in Geneva, two members of the Swiss National  Council, Erich Vontobel and Nicolas Walder, participated in a side  event held during the annual session of the UN Human Rights Council.  The event was initiated by Christian Solidarity International, with  the support of the Committee for the Defense of the Rights of the  People of Nagorno Karabakh, and aimed to advance the Swiss peace  initiative. Under its parliamentary mandate, Switzerland is now  obliged to organize a peace forum between representatives of  Azerbaijan and the representatives of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh,  with the clear purpose of negotiating the collective and safe return  of the displaced Armenians. Joining them were Nagorno Karabakh's  former Human Rights Defender Artak Beglaryan and international lawyer  Dr. Paul Williams, president of the Public International Law & Policy  Group (PILPG), based in Washington. Their message was clear: the  rights of the people of Nagorno Karabakh, not geopolitical interests  alone, must form the foundation of any settlement.

These are not the only developments. The International Court of  Justice has already obliged Azerbaijan to ensure the safe return of  the displaced Armenians. The European Parliament has adopted two  resolutions reaffirming the same principle. The French Parliament has  spoken twice in that direction, joined by Belgium, and of course  Switzerland with its unprecedented initiative. Taken together, all  these decisions and resolutions point to a clear trend: the right of  return is no longer only the demand of a dispossessed people, it is  the will of the international community.

This is a significant convergence. On both sides of the Atlantic,  diplomats, diplomats, and representatives of civil society are  affirming a simple truth: no peace can be lasting if built on the  ethnic cleansing of an indigenous people; no treaty can be just if it  eliminates the right of tens of thousands to return to their homes;  and no international order can be dignified if it remains silent in  the face of the illegal detention of prisoners and the desecration of  cultural heritage.

Azerbaijan, of course, completely rejects this. Nikol Pashinyan,  however, has chosen to completely ignore the issue, preferring to  close the chapter on Nagorno Karabakh rather than defend the rights  of his people.  Yet this resistance, whether from Baku or from  Yerevan, cannot erase the emerging consensus. The right of return  remains on the international agenda."