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When Karen Mirzoyan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Artsakh (The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic), wants to hold an international meeting he has to drive six hours from Stepanakert, Artsakh’s capital, to Yerevan, along the mountain road that forms its only link to the outside world. In other places, the minister drives behind earth dykes to shield his car from potential Azerbaijani fire. Artsakh, which is home to some 150,000 Armenian people, has an airport, but its warring neighbour has threatened to shoot down any plane that used it, EUobserver writes. 

Mirzoyan told EUobserver in an interview that being the foreign minister of a non-recognized country is more “enjoyable,” as he is not bound by norms of diplomatic protocol and is more free.

“The fact I represent a small nation on the outskirts of Europe that was able to survive against all the odds, was able to win the war and build a democratic state, gives me strength and creativity,” the foreign minister said.

He said proximity to people also inspired him.

“In Artsakh, the distance between a minister and a citizen is so small. You’re foreign minister for a few hours a day, but when your work ends and you walk in the street, you’re an ordinary citizen,” Mirzoyan said.
When asked about Aghdam events, Mirzoyan claimed that Azerbaijan bore “direct responsibility” for the deaths of the civilians of Khojaly.

“Artsakh side should not apologize for crimes committed by the Azerbaijani authorities against its own people,” Artsakh foreign minister said.

Moreover, Mirzoyan said that Azerbaijan was still committing war crimes. He said that its actions in the Artsakh village of Talish last April reminded him of its anti-Armenian pogroms in 1988.

“They sent special forces to Talish where they killed and mutilated elderly people, people over 80 years old,” he said.

Mirzoyan said the conflict ought, one day, to be ended by political negotiations. “I hope. I hope, but I’m very pessimistic given what Azerbaijan is doing,” he said.

Besides, the minister accused Azerbaijan’s authoritarian president Ilham Aliyev, who is spending billions of euros a year on arms, of enflaming tension. He highlighted that the Aliyev regime disseminates fascist propaganda against the Armenians.

“There’s no big hatred towards the Azerbaijanis, especially among older Armenians, who remember how we used to live together. But every day Azerbaijani TV says that a good Armenian is a dead Armenian and blames Armenians for everything,” Mirzoyan said.

It is also noted in the article that Ilham Aliyev often visits the EU and has hired lobbyists in EU capitals and in Washington. He also buys influence in other ways. Besides, it is reminded that Italian prosecutors are currently investigating an MP for allegedly taking a €2.4 million bribe to work for Azerbaijan in the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.

Mirzoyan emphasized the EU should impose a cost on Aliyev’s aggressive behavior. In his opinion, Europe’s “soft power” could reduce the risk of escalation of the Karabakh conflict.

“Artsakh is the border of Europe, the place where Europe begins. We have a common culture and history. People in Stepanakert might have a darker skin colour and hair colour than other Europeans, but they dream of the same future,” Karen Mirzoyan said.

On February 26, 1992, during the Karabakh war, around 200 to 300 people (according to Human Rights Watch, and 600 according to the version propagated by Azerbaijan) were killed in unknown circumstances near the city of Aghdam. They were deliberately withheld by the Azerbaijani authorities in the midst of the military actions. The authorities of Azerbaijan intentionally kept the population in the village for months by force and did not evacuate them in order to use them as human shields later as the village was one of the firing points for shooting at the blockaded Stepanakert (among five others).

The residents of Khojaly, coming out through the humanitarian corridor the self-defense forces of the NKR had left open, freely passed more than 10 km and reached the Aghdam city controlled by the Azerbaijani troops. Later, dead bodies of the villagers were foundnot far from the positions of Azerbaijani troops. The exact death toll remains unknown as the official Baku publishes data contradicting each other. Parliamentary Commission investigating the tragic death of the civilians at Aghdam city was dissolved by the order of Heydar Aliyev, the investigative materials are kept secret.