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e-3780 (Foreign affairs)
- Keywords
- Armenia
- Azerbaijan
- Foreign policy
Original language of petition: English
Petition to the Government of Canada
- February 26, 2022, marks the 30 years since the massacre of 613 Azerbaijani civilians by the Armenian Army in a small mountain town of Khojali, Azerbaijan;
- International media widely reported on the Khojali Massacre in 1992, documenting the gruesome details of the extermination of Khojali’s Azerbaijani population;
- For 30 years, Armenia kept Azerbaijan’s entire Karabakh region under illegal occupation, while ethnically cleansing nearly 800,000 Azerbaijani out of their ancestral homes;
- The UN Security Council adopted four resolutions (#822, #853, #874, #884) in 1993, condemning the occupation and demanding Armenian forces’ “immediate and complete withdrawal out of the occupied territories of Azerbaijan";
- Since the massacre, Armenia has refused to acknowledge the atrocity to pave the way for peace in the region;
- Canada has been consistent in its firm support to Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and always stood for the reconciliation and peace-building between Azerbaijanis and Armenians; and
- Canada’s 100,000 Azerbaijani-speaking community has been marking the day of remembrance of the massacre for the past 30 years, awaiting an acknowledgement of this day by the Canadian government.
Response by the Minister of Foreign Affairs
Signed by (Minister or Parliamentary Secretary): Rob Oliphant
The Government of Canada recognizes the Khojaly massacre as a terrible tragedy and remembers the victims who lost their lives, and the continuing suffering, with great sadness. Canada has strongly advocated that such a tragic loss of civilian lives as the Khojaly massacre must never be repeated.
Canada recognizes all UN Security Council resolutions on Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders. Canada encourages the continuation of leader-level dialogue on undertaking important confidence-building measures, such as the creation of bilateral mechanisms of border demarcations and delimitations, as well as restoring regional connectivity links between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Canada welcomed these developments and continues to strongly support the ongoing and future works of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Minsk Group. Canada encourages continued progress towards finding a sustainable political solution to this regional conflict.
Global Affairs Canada maintains a regular dialogue with Armenian and Azerbaijani authorities and the diaspora communities in Canada, such as the meeting between the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Network of Azerbaijani Canadians (NAC) in December 2021, as well as the meetings between Canada’s Ambassador to Azerbaijan and the NAC in December 2021 and Canada’s Ambassador to Armenia and the NAC in November 2021.
Canada will continue to support initiatives toward bringing peace and stability to the region and stands ready to contribute to these efforts.
February 16, 2022 (Petition No. 441-00193)
