October 2, 2023

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"[A]round 100,000 ethnic Armenians have left Nagorno-Karabakh, and relocated to Armenia. We believe that they ought – if they wish to return, they ought to have their rights respected, and that there ought to be an international monitoring mission in place to secure that."

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QUESTION: I’d like to ask you a question on Karabakh. AFP had a team that was able to go into the capital of Karabakh, Stepanakert, and they describe a absolute ghost town. Obviously, we know tens of thousands of Armenians fled Karabakh. The Armenians call it ethnic cleansing. Does the United States abide by that qualification? Do you think there was ethnic cleansing here in Karabakh?

MR MILLER: So we take allegations of ethnic cleansing, genocide, or other atrocities seriously. We are in touch with contacts on the ground about the situation. We won’t shy from taking appropriate actions to respond to allegations of atrocities and promote accountability for those responsible for atrocities when we see evidence that they’ve taken place. But as always, a determination regarding genocide or ethnic cleansing is based on a deliberate, evidence-based process. It’s not something I can speak to with any degree of finality from this podium.

QUESTION: But the region has been emptied of its civilian population. I mean —

MR MILLER: It is certainly true that a hundred thousand, or I should say around a hundred thousand, ethnic Armenians have departed Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia. Now, we don’t know – I don’t think any of us can say whether – what percentage of those plan to remain in Armenia permanently, what percentage of them may want to come back, if the conditions allowed, if they felt sufficient assurances about their treatment if they would return, which is why we are reiterating our call for an independent international monitoring mission that would provide transparency and reassurance to the population of Nagorno-Karabakh that the rights and securities of ethnic Armenians would be protected, particularly for any of those that wish to return. Azerbaijan has made those assurances. We think there ought to be an international monitoring mission there to observe and guarantee them.

QUESTION: Follow-up on that?

MR MILLER: Yeah.

QUESTION: Thanks so much. The first report of the UN team mission to Karabakh just came out. When you were talking about international – deploying international monitors, is that a mission you had in mind? And if so, is it long term, short term? And does it bounce back to the initial question that my colleague asked: What is your definition or sense of what’s going on right now?

MR MILLER: So the – first of all, we welcome that mission. We continue to work with our allies and partners about what a more long-term mission ought to look like. I don’t have any update on that today. And in – with respect to – what was the second question? What the situation was on the ground?

QUESTION: Right. The situation —

MR MILLER: The situation on the ground is exactly as I just described it, where around 100,000 ethnic Armenians have left Nagorno-Karabakh, and relocated to Armenia. We believe that they ought – if they wish to return, they ought to have their rights respected, and that there ought to be an international monitoring mission in place to secure that.

QUESTION: Is there any room left for peace agreement?

MR MILLER: We think certainly there ought to be. There are other issues beyond the status of Nagorno-Karabakh that are at dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and we would encourage them to return to peace talks to discuss and ultimately come to resolution on those issues.

For more information: www.state.gov/briefings/department-press-briefing-october-2-2023/#post-487380-ispal2