International conference dedicated to World Refugee Day

An international conference dedicated to World Refugee Day was held in YSU Paleans Hall under the title "Problems of Refugees from Azerbaijan SSR and Nagorno Karabakh in the Context of International Law". The conference delved into the issues of temporary protection of refugees in the context of international law. Additionally, as well as the economic losses of Armenians forcibly displaced from Azerbaijan, their social integration problems and the factor of ethnic hatred in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

YSU Rector Hovhannes Hovhannisyan underscoring that Armenia periodically faces refugee-related problems, said: "At one time, we were talking about protecting the rights of Armenians displaced from Azerbaijan following the Soviet Union's dissolution, including those displaced as a result of the massacres in Baku, Sumgait, Maragha. However, today we are facing new problems due to the complete depopulation of Artsakh in 2023. These problems are related to different legal, economic and psychological fields. The people of Artsakh are facing the problem of preserving their identity, as well as their language and cultural heritage.

In this context, the YSU rector noted that Yerevan State University, as a scientific institution, is obliged to raise the problems of refugees, despite the widespread violations of international law, including decisions from the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights, which often remain unenforced despite being formally documented.

At the conference, Hranush Kharatyan, a leading researcher at the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia, addressed the factor of ethnic and social hatred in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in her report titled "Death to Armenians".

According to Hranush Kharatyan, a comparison should not be made when talking about Armenians forcibly displaced from Azerbaijan to Armenia and Azerbaijanis displaced from Armenia to Azerbaijan due to the vastly different causes, forms, and consequences of refugeeism in each case. In this context, she pointed out that the slogan "Death to Armenians" in Azerbaijan during the late 80s was a clear policy against Armenians.

"During the Soviet years, particularly in 1988, when the Nagorno Karabakh issue was formulated and the Nagorno Karabakh regional council tried to raise the self-determination rights of local Armenians, immediately after that, in February 1988, the Sumgait demonstrations began, during which the raised objective was one: 'Death to Armenians'. There was no discussion on how to solve the Nagorno-Karabakh problem, but the above-mentioned slogan was immediately put into action. This disturbing trend extended across Azerbaijan, targeting Armenians in various regions until 1992," said H. Kharatyan.

According to the researcher's interpretation, at that time hatred was fostered in Azerbaijan, which was expressed in the form of revenge against Armenians.

Vilen Gabrielyan, Member of the National Assembly ("Problems of Depopulation of Historical Gardman, Shirvan, Nakhichevan and Current Challenges" report), Hovhannes Aleksanyan, Head of the Integration Center of the Office of the High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs of RA and Associate Professor at the Chair of History of Neighboring Countries of Armenia of YSU History Faculty ("Measures Aimed at Integration of Syrian Armenians in the Republic of Armenia" report), Tatul Mkrtchyan, Professor at the Armenian State University of Economics, international expert Ara Ghazaryan, Andranik Grigoryan, President of the Human Rights Protection Union of Nagorno Karabakh, and a number of YSU faculty members.