Swiss Lawmakers Launch New Platform Advocating for the Right of Return of Armenians from Artsakh

BERN — On May 26, a cross-party committee of 19 parliamentarians in support of the Swiss Peace Initiative for Nagorno Karabakh will be launched in Bern, the capital of Switzerland.

The Initiative is being launched to support Switzerland’s commitment to “facilitate an open dialogue between Azerbaijan and representatives of the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenian people, conducted under international supervision or in the presence of internationally relevant actors, to negotiate the safe and collective return of the historically resident Armenian population.”

Nagorno Karabakh’s population of 120,000 Armenian Christians was forced to flee the region in the wake of Azerbaijan’s invasion in September 2023. The exodus was the latest twist in a decades-long struggle over the territory, historically inhabited by Armenians, but claimed by Azerbaijan.

The inaugural event of the committee   will take place on May 26 at the Hotel Kreuz in Bern. The committee, which has broad cross-party support, is led by National Councillor Erich Vontobel (EDU, Zurich) and National Councillor Stefan Müller-Altermatt (The Center Party, Solothurn).

The event will feature presentations from Vontobel and Müller-Altermatt, as well as Vartan Oskanian, the former foreign minister of Armenia and current Chairman of the Committee for the Defense of the Fundamental Rights of the People of Nagorno Karabakh, Vardan Tadevosyan, the Director of the Lady Cox Rehabilitation Centre (formerly in Nagorno Karabakh), Sarkis Shahinian, the Gen. Sec. of the Parliamentary Friendship Group Switzerland-Armenia, and Dr. Joel Veldkamp, CSI’s Director for Public Advocacy.