Al Jazeera: Azerbaijan not forcing Armenians to leave Garabagh
VIDEO

KARABAKH  02 October 2023 - 10:14

An Al Jazeera film crew has visited the Garabagh region of Azerbaijan.

In his report from the Azerbaijani town of Khankendi, Al Jazeera journalist Osama Bin Javaid denied accusations that Azerbaijan was allegedly "forcing Armenians to leave Khankendi".

Everyone he spoke to, including ICRC staff, did not see any cases where people were actually expelled from their homes or faced any violence from the Azerbaijani side, Javaid said.

In fact, Azerbaijan does not force Armenians to leave Garabagh, and makes every possible effort to reintegrate them into the social, cultural and economic structure of the country, he added.

The Azerbaijani presidency said Baku’s migration service has begun operating in the city to register Armenian residents to ensure their “sustainable reintegration … into the Azerbaijani society,” promising them the “patronage of the Azerbaijani state”.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan is holding “reintegration” talks with separatist leaders while also detaining senior figures from its former government and military command.

Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General Kamran Aliyev said criminal investigations had been initiated into war crimes committed by 300 separatist officials.

“I urge on those persons to surrender voluntarily,” he told journalists on October 1.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan are set to meet on October 5 in the Spanish city of Granada for Western-mediated talks aimed at ending their historic enmity.

With the two countries’ relations poisoned by ethnic hatred ensuing from three wars in as many decades, several rounds of negotiations mediated by Brussels and Washington have so far failed to bring about a breakthrough.

Caliber.Az