«These are historic Armenian lands»: Tatoyan responds to Azerbaijan's statements

The former Human Rights Defender of Armenia, Arman Tatoyan, writes: “Today’s Azerbaijani statements regarding the return of 7 villages in Tavush and Tigranashen to Azerbaijan as part of the delimitation process are absolutely unacceptable to us. This prospect is fraught with catastrophic dangers, including mass violations of rights, disruption of the physical safety and mental peace of our entire population, safety on roads, and connections between communities. It will likely lead to new internally displaced persons or, in everyday language, refugees, and so on.

The mentioned villages in Tavush and Tigranashen have been an integral part of Soviet Armenia. They are historic Armenian lands.

The ‘enclave’ logic itself is a result of the neglect of human rights, failing to learn lessons from the destructive chapters of history, which has been irresponsibly fostered for a long time by several high-ranking officials in Armenia. In general, the mechanical-political phrasing of ‘enclave’ should be removed from all discussions.”