YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. The Europeans for Artsakh Movement has written a letter to the President of the European Council Charles Michel, demanding once again that the EU takes effective and decisive measures to contain Azerbaijan’s authoritarian regime and its fascist policy in Nagorno Karabakh/Artsakh.

Below is the letter titled 'Ethnic cleansing in Nagorno Karabakh with EU’s endorsement'.

“After nine months of blockade, imposing starvation and all methods of intimidation, on 19 September Azerbaijan unleashed a large-scale military aggression against the 120.000 indigenous Armenian population of Nagorno Karabakh/Artsakh, including 30.000 children. Since yesterday several hundred Armenians, including children were killed by the Azerbaijani army. The native Armenian population, which has lived in Nagorno Karabakh/Artsakh for millennia, is now forced to subjugate to an oil dictatorship, with the silent endorsement of all major actors, including the EU. It goes without saying that the Russian peacekeepers bear primary responsibility, yet the EU clearly has had enough leverage to prevent this catastrophe. We appreciated your efforts as a principal Mediator in this highly complex situation. As EU citizens we believed that a political union such as the EU which claims to stand for human rights, would take effective measures to contain Azerbaijan, that it would at least impose targeted sanctions. When we raised this issue to the EU representatives, we were told that “sanctions would not allow to negotiate with Azerbaijan”. So, where have the negotiations led so far and has this approach made Azerbaijan more constructive? Unfortunately, the answer is rather obvious. One must be naive or ignorant not to know that advocating for Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity under these circumstances and for so-called reintegration of the indigenous Armenians population of Nagorno Karabakh under Azerbaijani rule, means ethnic cleansing and genocide. We believe that the EU leadership is neither naive, nor is it ignorant. Yet, the EU has been advocating for this approach which is unacceptable by any measure of morality and humanity. Unfortunately, today is the day when it became clear once again that geopolitical calculations and a few cubic meters of gas from an authoritarian regime such as Azerbaijan, which in fact also indirectly includes Russian gas through Azerbaijani pipelines, supersede human rights and human lives. Nevertheless, we believe that human rights are more than an instrument used wherever convenient and whenever they reinforce geopolitical interests.  On behalf of the “Europeans for Artsakh” which is a pan-European collaborative platform, created by the representatives of Armenian communities and advocates of human rights across Europe, as EU citizens, we demand once again that the EU takes effective and decisive measures to contain Azerbaijan’s authoritarian regime and its fascist policy in Nagorno Karabakh/Artsakh.”