By Nanor Froundjian
Armenians gathered in front of the Swiss Embassy in Yerevan just days ahead of the Swiss parliament’s debate on the adoption of a resolution regarding the right of Armenians to safely return to Karabakh.
The resolution will be debated on March 18 and the outcome will determine whether or not the Swiss government would be mandated to hold an international peace forum with representatives of Armenia and Azerbaijan to discuss the right of Artsakh’s forcibly displaced population to return home safely.
“I want you to know that your decision is extremely important to us and that it is a new ray of hope for our people,” said Gegham Stepanyan, former Artsakh Ombudsman and human rights activist, expressing his gratitude to the Swiss National Council for adopting the resolution on Nagorno-Karabakh peace forum last December.
Gegham Stepanyan, former Artsakh Ombudsman and human rights activist, addresses those who gathered in front of the Embassy of Switzerland in Yerevan (PHOTO: CivilNet / Nanor Froundjian)
“We will never forget your courage in defending our rights and standing with us in these darkest times of our history, and in choosing the path of justice and the right side of history,” said Stepanyan.
He urged the Council of States to green light the motion that will be up for debate in four days.
“The eyes of those who are here and hundreds of thousands are fixed upon your vote with hope that you will not remain indifferent to our plight and our rights,” he said.
The motion has passed through a multi-step process, starting with approval by a committee in the parliament’s lower house in October and then passed by the full body in December. The foreign relations committee of the upper house adopted the resolution in January, and if it passes the full body on Tuesday, it will come into force.
To many, the passing of this resolution at the upper house represents a crucial step towards the advancement and recognition of Artsakh’s population.
“The voice of the people of Artsakh must be heard,” said Azatoohi Simonyan, former Adviser to the Vice Prime Minister of Artsakh.
“This can also be, for example, a way of encouraging other European countries, and those outside of Europe as well, that the issue of the people of Artsakh, their trial, is not over yet,” she said.
In a December 2024 interview with CivilNet, the motion’s co-rapporteur Nicolas Walder, cited the expulsion of more than 100,000 people as motivation for the bill to pass in the lower house and to warrant international attention.
“The international community wants for those people to be able to come back to their home if they want to. Nothing is moving, and we see that time is playing against those people,” he said.
However, as co-president of the Switzerland-Armenia Parliamentary Friendship Group Stefan Müller-Altermatt explained in the same interview, one challenge is that the bill would likely put a strain on Switzerland’s relationship with Azerbaijan and compromise to some the perception of their positioning as a neutral actor.
The post High hopes as Swiss debate on Karabakh right of return approaches appeared first on CIVILNET.