In an interview with Armenian Public Television aired on Monday, Kvien disagreed with a widely held belief in Armenia that Karabakh’s population will have to flee the region if Azerbaijan regains full control of it. She said “all parties” to the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict have assured the United States that “the rights and security of Nagorno-Karabakh’s residents must be guaranteed.”
“Amid the policy of conquest and ethnic cleansing carried out by Azerbaijan against the people of Artsakh with an obvious genocidal intention, the ongoing inhumane blockade, repeated cases of violence and aggression, growing hate speech and belligerent rhetoric, such statements smack of a policy of appeasing the aggressor,” the Karabakh foreign ministry said in a statement.
“As historical experience shows, appeasement of the aggressor is perceived by the latter as encouragement of its destructive policy, which only leads to further violence and human suffering.”
The statement also said the U.S. and other mediating powers “must not predetermine the outcome” of Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks in the first place.
A senior official in Stepanakert told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Monday that Karabakh’s leadership turned down last month a U.S. offer to meet with Azerbaijani officials in a foreign country for talks on the Armenian-populated region’s “integration” into Azerbaijan. Washington has not reported such offers.
The Karabakh president, Arayik Harutiunian, made clear last week that the Karabakh Armenians will continue to assert their right to self-determination despite mounting pressure from Azerbaijan.
Kvien’s remarks are consistent with other U.S. officials’ positive reaction to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s recent pledge to recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh through a comprehensive peace treaty. Pashinian’s statement was strongly condemned by the authorities in Stepanakert and the Armenian opposition.
Later in May, the U.S. State Department welcomed Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s offer of “amnesty” to Karabakh’s leaders conditional on their “surrender” to Baku. The Karabakh authorities denounced that move, saying that it amounted to an endorsement of “Baku’s bellicose policy.”
