Armenia calls for UN mission to Nagorno-Karabakh The West’s fear of Putin’s defeat

Following Azerbaijan’s military victory in the Caucasus region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia has called for a UN mission to protect the Armenian people. The United Nations should immediately send troops to “monitor and assess the human rights and security situation on the ground,” Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirsoyan said on Saturday during the UN general debate in New York. Azerbaijan’s chief diplomat Jihun Bayramov emphasized Baku’s readiness to treat the Armenian people as equal citizens of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Armenia accuses Azerbaijan of planning ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh. The area belongs to Azerbaijan under international law, but is predominantly inhabited by Armenians. In his speech during the general UN debate, Armenian Foreign Minister Mirsoyan drew a parallel with the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

As a result, the United Nations has created preventive mechanisms to prevent a similar crime. Today the world is “on the brink of a new failure” in Nagorno-Karabakh, Mirsoyan said.

Azerbaijan wants to respect the “rights of Christian Armenians.”

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Bayramov said in his speech during the general debate that Muslim-majority Azerbaijan would respect the rights of Christian Armenians. His country is “determined to reintegrate the Armenian residents of the Karabakh region into Azerbaijan as equal citizens.” Baku sees a “historic opportunity” for Azerbaijan and Armenia to create “good neighborly relations.”

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Armenia of “every now and then adding fuel to the fire” regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Referring to a senior Armenian politician who accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of handing over Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan, Lavrov said the accusation was “ridiculous.” With the Alma-Ata Declaration signed shortly before the end of the Soviet Union in 1991, Nagorno-Karabakh became “simply” part of Azerbaijan, Lavrov said. (sda/afp)