On Sunday, the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to “advance discussions” on a peace treaty follolwing the war in 2020. The war erupted once again over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, situated in Muslim-majority Azerbaijan with mostly Christian Armenian residents. It is the focus of a decades-long territorial dispute between the two ex-Soviet Caucasus neighbours, Euractiv reports.
Armenia, Azerbaijan leaders discuss 'peace treaty' over Nagorno-Karabakh https://t.co/ejHfiiq6fd
— Georgi Gotev & EURACTIV.bg (@GeorgiGotev) May 23, 2022
In March, ECR MEP Lars Patrick Berg, remarked during a plenary session in Strasbourg:
“I fully support an independent commission of enquiry, led by Unesco, to investigate and determine the full extent of cultural vandalism in Arzakh. I am also sure that this mission will expose the wanton destruction of Armenian churches, monuments, artefacts and memorial stones, the so-called Khachkars.
What we are witnessing is the systematic destruction of Armenian cultural heritage in Arzakh, which clearly violates the rulings of the International Court of Justice. An independent mission led by Unesco must finally be given unhindered access to Arzach to prevent the further destruction of Armenian cultural heritage in Arzach. And we should not allow the Azerbaijani authorities to endlessly delay and obstruct such a mission.”
In an interview with ARMENPRESS last month, Lars Patrick Berg also discussed the Armenian genocide:
“I think the wider international community is only too well aware of the Genocide – there is no danger this will be forgotten,” he said.
According to the Member of European Parliament there are obviously one or two exceptions who haven’t yet acknowledged the fact of the Armenian Genocide, with Turkey being the “most obvious exception.”
According to Berg, the international community should continue to respect the victims of the Armenian Genocide, but you cannot force a nation to accept a historical fact, and there is “little advantage in forcing Turkey to acknowledge what the rest of the world accepts as proven.”
“I honestly don’t believe anymore can be done. The current Turkish government survives by invoking Turkish nationalism, so it is highly unlikely that the Erdogan government is going to recognise the Genocide,” he said.