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The Gardman-Shirvan-Nakhijevan Pan-Armenian Union has responded to the U.S. decision to put Azerbaijan on religious freedom watchlist, ARMENPRESS reports.

"U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that Azerbaijan has been included in the watchlist based on its involvement in or toleration of serious violations of religious freedom. This decision comes after the establishment of Azerbaijani control over the entire territory of Nagorno Karabakh and the implementation of ethnic cleansing.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which has previously warned  about the threat to Armenian cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh, now  sounds the alarm that there are serious concerns regarding the regulation of religious activities in Azerbaijan.

The response by the Commission on International Religious Freedom is an extremely important step in highlighting the crimes committed against the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh and providing an adequate response to them.

The Gardman-Shirvan-Nakhijevan Pan-Armenian Union welcomes the efforts that the United States is making to ensure human rights and freedoms. We have repeatedly sounded the alarm about the systematic vandalism based on religious and ethnic discrimination and complete brutality that is currently being carried out in Nagorno-Karabakh and has been carried out in historical Gardman, Shirvan and Nakhijevan over the past decades,” the Union said in a statement.

It has called on both the Commission on International Religious Freedom and other international arbitral structures and organizations to address the actions  being implemented by Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Union also calls on to pursue a fair investigation and appropriate punishment for the genocide carried out in the depopulated areas of Gardman, Shirvan, and Nakhijevan over the past 35 years.