Former UN rapporteur promotes Armenian propaganda Double standards and bias

Armenian media eagerly circulate another piece of nonsense—this time, it's the provocative statements of former UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Fernand de Varennes, who suddenly began talking about "ethnic cleansing in Karabakh" and "genocide of Armenians." At the sidelines of the 5th Global Forum "Against the Crime of Genocide" in Yerevan, the former UN rapporteur stated that "from international law, what occurred in Nagorno-Karabakh I feel could very easily be identified as ethnic cleansing, which might amount to a war crime or a crime against humanity."

"In itself is not genocide, but it still could be considered a war crime or a crime against humanity," the former UN rapporteur proclaimed.

Regarding the myth of the "1915 genocide," Varennes even suggested that Türkiye might recognize it in the future. "In the future, in a certain number of years, there may be a change of attitude amongst the Turkish side, later on, a different political, social, legal context, where it may be easier for a Turkish government to recognize this as having been a genocide. In other words, maybe not today, but maybe in the future, the time will be right for this to occur. So, one should not give up," said the UN diplomat.

Thus, the biased statements of the former UN Special Rapporteur against Azerbaijan and Türkiye demonstrate that Fernand de Varennes is yet another tool of the Armenian lobby, working for his pay just like many of his "colleagues" in various international organizations. How else can we explain that the former UN rapporteur is so fervently advocating for the rights of Armenians who voluntarily left the Karabakh region, but at the time, as an independent UN expert, he never once mentioned how grossly the rights of Azerbaijanis were violated, both in Armenia and in the territories it occupied in Azerbaijan?

The answer is obvious: personal gain and double standards, which have long been an inseparable part of Western institutions, including the UN. Therefore, it is entirely reasonable that Azerbaijan, which has been facing double standards since the time of the Armenian occupation, continues to keep the issue of the deportation of Azerbaijanis from Armenia at the centre of international attention, including at the UN. Recently, the Western Azerbaijan Community called on the relevant UN bodies to focus on the problem of Azerbaijanophobia in Armenia and to address the issue of violations of the rights of Western Azerbaijanis in discussions related to Armenia.

The effectiveness of measures by relevant UN bodies is a rhetorical question. It is worth recalling that Armenia, throughout the entire period of occupying Azerbaijani territories, blatantly ignored four UN Security Council resolutions calling for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian military forces from Azerbaijani territory. However, now that Azerbaijan has fully restored its territorial integrity and sovereignty, the Armenian side is not averse to enlisting even former Special Representatives of the same organization whose resolutions it blatantly violated. Therefore, for Armenia, the UN platform serves as yet another opportunity to push forward false propaganda.

Another important nuance. Yerevan, which loudly claims at every opportunity that Azerbaijan allegedly violated the rights of Karabakh Armenians, should also be concerned about the rights of the Yazidis living in Armenia. Back in August 2021, UN human rights defenders urged Yerevan to stop persecuting activist and founder of the Yazidi Center for Human Rights, Sashik Sultanian, who supported the rights of the Yazidi community in Armenia. Interestingly, the UN human rights defenders' calls for the Armenian authorities were supported by none other than Special Rapporteur Fernand de Varennes himself.

So, it turns out that when it came to violations of the rights of the Yazidi minority in Armenia, Varennes immediately stood up in their defence, but was blind, deaf, and mute when it came to the rights of Azerbaijanis who were expelled from Armenia. Isn’t this a clear example of Western double standards? The answer is obvious...