Over 20,000 Artsakh people have left Armenia, says state minister

Artsakh State Minister Nzhdeh Iskandaryan said that more than 20,000 Artsakh people have left Armenia since their forced displacement last year. Speaking at a press conference on Monday, he criticized Armenian authorities for “doing everything to ensure there are no Artsakh Armenians left in Armenia.”

Responding to National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan’s recent remark that the “Artsakh people should have stayed and fought”, Iskandaryan said, “Perhaps they had their own ways of fighting from their warm offices. Let them tell us how we were supposed to fight.”

He emphasized that displaced Artsakh Armenians continue to live with the hope of a collective return to their homeland. “To keep the issue of Artsakh on the agenda, Artsakh Armenians must remain in Armenia,” he said, adding that maintaining a community of even 100,000-120,000 would help keep the topic alive internationally.

“The current authorities are not permanent. When state-oriented forces come to power, the issue of collective return will once again be on the agenda,” Iskandaryan remarked.