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The territorial integrity of Azerbaijan has never had anything to do with Artsakh, Armenia’s former Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Arman Tatoyan said in a statement on social media on Wednesday. His full statement is below.

“The territorial integrity of Azerbaijan has nothing to do with Artsakh and has never had anything to do with it. This is the basic idea and reality.

However, the Azerbaijani authorities have constantly fabricated reality and pursued a policy of ethnic cleansing.

During these days in 1920, pogroms were committed against the Armenian population of Shushi in Artsakh. Tens of thousands of Armenians were brutally killed and deprived of their property, Shushi was completely destroyed with the active participation of the Turkish army.

It was a continuation of the criminal acts in Artsakh following the logic of the Armenian Genocide. Moreover, the massacres of the Armenian population in Baku, Sumgait and other cities were carried out with the same intentions.

The result of the same policy was the war waged by Azerbaijan in April 2016 and the 44-day war in 2020.

What is happening now to more than 100,000 civilians in Artsakh is a continuation of Azerbaijan's policy with the same intentions, from shelling of peaceful settlements to depriving the people of heating and hot water amid freezing temperatures to achieve the exodus of Armenians from Artsakh.

They are doing everything possible to prevent the restoration of peaceful life of the people.”