Armen Rustamyan, representative of the ARF Bureau, met with European political figures visiting Armenia for the international conference titled “Artsakh: Unresolved Conflict – The Right of Return.”
Among the participants were Costantinos Efstathiou, a member of the House of Representatives of Cyprus, and Lars Patrick Berg, a former Member of the European Parliament from Germany.
According to the ARF’s Public Relations Office, the discussions focused on the current stage of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the international protection of the fundamental rights of the Armenians of Artsakh, and other issues of mutual interest.
On September 19, 2023, Azerbaijan launched a large-scale military offensive against Artsakh, subjecting the region to intense shelling. On September 20, Artsakh authorities agreed to a ceasefire proposed by the Russian peacekeeping command, which included disarmament of the local defense forces and dissolution of the Republic of Artsakh. Starting September 24, over 100,000 Armenians were forcibly displaced to Armenia. By some estimates, only around 20 Armenians remained in Artsakh. On September 28, President Samvel Shahramanyan signed a decree on the republic’s dissolution, effective January 1, 2024.
