October 3, 2025, Yerevan

September 30th of this year marked two years since the complete expulsion of the Armenian people of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), their historical homeland where they had lived continuously for the past 3,000 years. This unprecedented war crime, preceded by a nine-month blockade and siege that led to a humanitarian crisis and accompanied by the destruction of Armenian cultural heritage—architectural monuments, churches, and monasteries—was once again orchestrated by the dictatorial Aliyev regime, together with Russia, represented in the region by its “peacekeepers.” The total number of refugees from the NKR has reached 150,000.

September 27th of this year marked five years since the Republic of Azerbaijan launched yet another aggressive and unprovoked war, supported by Turkey, Israel, and Pakistan, and involving thousands of Islamic jihadists from Syria. During this war, the Armenian population was completely expelled from the territory of the Hadrud district, as well as partially from the Martuni and Mardakert districts of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

September 2nd of this year marked 34 years since the proclamation, at a joint session of the Nagorno-Karabakh Regional and Shahumyan District Councils of People’s Deputies, of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic within the borders of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) and the adjacent Shahumyan District of the Azerbaijan SSR. This decision was made in response to the military aggression unleashed by the newly established Azerbaijan Republic against the population of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, which continued the genocidal policy against the Armenian population of Azerbaijan, initiated by the Soviet authorities with pogroms and ethnic cleansing in Sumgait, Baku, Kirovabad, Nakhichevan, Shamkhor, Chardakhlu, Getashen, and other regions, as well as Operation “Koltso” (Ring), carried out by the Azerbaijani OMON special forces jointly with Soviet troops. The independence of the NKR was proclaimed in full compliance with the USSR Law “On the Procedure for the Secession of Soviet Republics from the USSR.”

November 9 of this year marks five years since the signing of the Ceasefire Declaration by Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia, which stipulated that the parties to the conflict maintain their positions and that Azerbaijan would provide security guarantees for the unimpeded passage of citizens, vehicles, and cargo in both directions through the Lachin Corridor. This Statement has not been denounced by any of the signatory parties, but its provisions have been violated by Azerbaijan and Russia, without incurring any liability for the latter.

On September 1, 2025, the OSCE Ministerial Council, based on a joint appeal signed on August 8 by the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, decided to close the OSCE Minsk Process and its associated structures. The decision to close the Minsk Process was adopted unanimously by all 57 OSCE participating States.

Based on the above facts, and the fact that

– Azerbaijan’s seizure of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic was the result of yet another act of military aggression, in violation of the UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act, and other norms of international law;

– Azerbaijan’s aggression was accompanied by the creation of a humanitarian crisis, the expulsion of civilians, and the destruction of their historical heritage, as a result of which, in the face of the indifference of the international community, Aliyev’s dictatorial regime completed the ethnic cleansing of the people of Artsakh;

– These actions were the logical conclusion of the genocidal policy of Aliyev’s dictatorial regime, which, after the 44-day war, openly declared that it was merely using the Minsk process to buy time, prepare, and ultimately “resolve” the Nagorno-Karabakh problem by force, in violation of all agreements;

– In the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, the level of democracy and human rights, according to authoritative ratings from Human Rights Watch and Freedom House, was an order of magnitude higher than in Azerbaijan, one of the worst dictatorships in the world, according to the same ratings, where real civil society and opposition have been destroyed, and the vast majority of civil activists resisting the dictatorship are either in prison, killed, or have emigrated;

– After capturing Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijani troops invaded Armenia, seizing more than 250 square kilometers of its sovereign territory, which they continue to hold to this day, while continuing to threaten to seize further Armenian territory, in particular, the so-called “Zangezur Corridor”;

– Even after the initialing of the peace treaty, Azerbaijan continues to hold approximately 30 prisoners of war and hostages;

– The consent of the Armenian leadership to sign such an appeal to OSCE member states calling for the dissolution of the Minsk process, as well as the consent to withdraw legal claims in international courts against the illegal actions and crimes of Azerbaijan, and the consent to withdraw EU observers from the Armenian-Azerbaijani border were given by the Armenian leadership under the threat of a new war. To avoid giving a pretext for new aggression from Azerbaijan, the Prime Minister of Armenia does not even dare to raise the issue of the legitimate rights of 150,000 refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh, and even more so, the rights of more than half a million Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan;

– Even after obtaining all possible and impossible concessions from Armenia under the threat of force, and the initialing of a peace treaty entirely written in Baku, which does not say a word about the rights of refugees or the right of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh to self-determination and self-government, dictator Aliyev at a meeting of the UN General Assembly on September 25 of this year continued to make provocative statements aimed at manipulating and distorting the facts surrounding the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, presenting Azerbaijan, which has started the war three times, as a victim of the conflict, and calling into question Armenia’s territorial integrity;

– Although the Minsk Group co-chair countries (USA, Russia, France) expressed their commitment to Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, they opposed the adoption of Resolution 6228 by the UN General Assembly on March 14, 2008. The Resolution was demanding “the immediate, complete, and unconditional withdrawal of all Armenian forces from all occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan,” and Minsk Group co-chair countries appreciated this resolution as one-sided, as a result of which only 39 countries voted for the resolution, the vast majority of which were Islamic monarchies and autocracies in the Middle East and Africa;

and also

Generally welcoming the US mediation efforts to normalize relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and establish peace in the region, as well as the agreement of the two countries to recognize each other’s territorial integrity and to unblock roads and communications within the framework of the sovereignty of the countries through whose territory they pass, including TRIPP,

– Expressing its gratitude to the European Union for the deployment of its monitors on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, which has led to relative peace and stability in the region, as well as for the humanitarian assistance provided to refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh and consistent steps to ensure the resilience of Armenia and, in particular, its regions bordering Azerbaijan,

and

– Building on the Statement of the EaP CSF Steering Committee of 6 May 2021 in support of the EU statement on prisoners of war in the recent conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Statement of the EaP CSF Steering Committee Co-Chairs of 23 December 2022, on the situation in the Lachin corridor, the Statement of the members of the EaP Civil Society Forum Steering Committee of September 21, 2023, calling for an immediate end to ethnic cleansing against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as in its statements of March 4, 2022, August 15, 2022, September 21, 2022, December 17, 2022, March 10, 2023, August 16, 2023, March 26, 2024, and March 3, 2025,

Armenian National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum

– Considers unacceptable attempts to legitimize a “solution” to the Nagorno-Karabakh problem through the ethnic cleansing of its indigenous Armenian population, as well as the predominance of the rule of force over the force of international law, which only exacerbates the conflict and makes it postponed;

– Condemns the decision The OSCE Ministerial Council on the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk process and related structures, the last hope of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh for a resolution of their fate within the framework of international law, and consider this decision as a renunciation by the OSCE as a whole, each of its members and, in particular, the co-chairs of the abolished Minsk Group – the United States, Russia and France – of responsibility, of international law, of human and peoples’ rights and elementary universal values, and a capitulation of the international community to an aggressive caviar-oil-driven eastern despotism,

– Calls on the United States and France, as co-chairs of the abolished OSCE Minsk Group, to return to their obligations for the fate of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, for their right to live safely in their homeland and, to this end, to convene an international conference on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict based on international law and the rights of nations and peoples to self-determination, and, before this, to establish an international fact-finding mission and to assess the actions of all parties to the conflict from the perspective of international law,

– Calls on the international community and its Political structures to take the necessary steps to release all hostages and prisoners of war held by Azerbaijan.

– Calls on the European Union, the United States, and all democratic countries to take the necessary steps to hold accountable all Azerbaijani officials involved in organizing and executing ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh and other war crimes.

– Calls on the UN, the United States, France, and all democratic countries to take the necessary steps to ensure the safe return of all refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh, the restoration of all their rights, including property rights, and the provision of their security by an international peacekeeping mission under a UN mandate.

– Calls on the European Union, the United States, and all democratic countries to take the necessary steps to support the democratization process in all countries of the region and to reduce Russia’s destructive influence.