Taguhi Tovmasyan: Azerbaijan has occupied a number of regions of the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh

We hold a meeting with the Honourable Anthony Rota, Speaker of the House of Commons Parliament of Canada yesterday.
The meeting was organized by the Canadian Parliamentary Centre

It was a very good opportunity not only to speak about the parliaments of the two countries, but also voice about the dangers, Armenia and Artsakh face.

During the meeting I underlined that:

. Azerbaijan has occupied a number of regions of the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh,

. Azerbaijan consistently carries out war crimes, only being subject to condemns without any consequences,

. Impunity gives rise to new crimes, therefore, I request the whole world, including Canada to impose sanctions against Azerbaijan.

I thanked Canada for:

. Officially recognizing the Armenian Genocide at Federal, Legislative (2004) and Executive bodies levels,

. Putting the issue of recognizing the independence of Artsakh into political discourse at the parliamentary level,

. Suspending the permissions for the export of military products to Turkey during the war, on October 5, 2020. As we know, the Canadian company has stopped the supplies of aircraft engines to Turkey because of the some aircraft engines produced by subsidiary company Rotax being used in Bayraktar TB2 UAV during the 2020 war.

. I warned our Canadian colleague that leaving Artsakh with a population of about 130,000 people alone in such a difficult condition would be a crime: the people of Artsakh need the support of the whole world, and we expect everyone to prevent a new genocide by Azerbaijan.

We also discussed a number of other issues related to the challenges to democracy, the protection of human rights, and the development of inter-parliamentary relations.

Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, nonpartisan Taguhi Tovmasyan