Epress.am News from Armenia
People deported from Azerbaijan to Armenia for reasons of their ethnic belonging have been facing all sorts of issues in Armenia since their first days of arrival. Part of these issues were justified by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Nagorno Karabakh war. In an Armenia that was in its peak of anti-Moscow sentiments, these people were targeted and harassed for speaking Russian and ‘having lived with Turks.’
Later in the years, when the empire became an ‘ally’, the war entered its next aggressive phase – that of inciting hate, ‘Hero of Artsakh’ – Robert Kocharyan came to power, and the plunder of resources allocated for resolving the issues of migrants took a systemic nature. In tandem, Armenians of Azerbaijan started to be targeted as compatriots of the “karabakhtsis” that had usurped power. These people continue to be exploited in the anti-Azerbaijani propaganda while their issues continue to be neglected for thirty years.
Residents of a condominium in Abovyan town speak about their housing issues. In their conversation they repeatedly mention the name of Gagik Yeganyan, former head of the State Migration Service; Larisa Alaverdyan – former Ombudsman, parliamentarian and member of the ‘Heritage’ party; the Armenian office of the United Nations; the Red Cross and Eleonora Asatryan, coordinator of ‘Migrants and International Law’ NGO network.
The video is in Armenian.