The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh and the demand for the return of the displaced population do not leave Armenia alone. Swiss politicians also discuss the sensitive questions.
May 9, 2026, 1:44 p.mMay 9, 2026, 1:44 p.m
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (center) with Armenian President Serge Sarkisian (right) and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev (left).Image: AP POOL EPA
The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh and the demand for the return of the displaced population do not leave Armenia alone. Swiss politicians also discuss the sensitive questions.
The fronts in the South Caucasus state have hardened: While some fear that a return of the displaced people could endanger the peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan, others believe that the peace process without the inclusion of the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians is doomed to failure.
“We are collateral victims of the conflict between Russia and the West,” says Artak Beglaryan, referring to the displaced population from Nagorno-Karabakh. He left his homeland in September 2023 along with around 100,000 other Armenians.
Since then, as president of the non-governmental organization “Artsakh Union”, he has been campaigning for the displaced population to return to their homeland, as he said in an interview with the Keystone-SDA news agency in Yerevan. Nagorno-Karabakh is also called Artsakh in Armenia.
The population was displaced by the Azerbaijani military, which brought the region under the control of Baku. Nagorno-Karabakh was always Azerbaijani territory and until 2023 was predominantly populated by Armenians.
“According to the last census conducted in 1987, 184,000 people lived in Nagorno-Karabakh, 142,000 of whom were Armenians and 42,000 Azerbaijanis,” says Roman Karapetyan, political scientist at Yerevan State University. More current, reliable figures are not available.
Peace process does not foresee a return
The government in Yerevan is offering the refugee population a settlement program in Armenia. This provides for the receipt of an Armenian passport and financial assistance. “The money is enough for a family to buy a house,” says Karapetyan. Around 40,000 people have already made use of it.
In parallel, the Armenian and Azerbaijani governments are trying to normalize relations. In August 2025, under the aegis of US President Donald Trump, they signed a joint declaration in Washington that has peace as its goal. The statement does not mention any return of the displaced population.
Process does not bring “real peace”
“The people of Nagorno-Karabakh are not part of the discussion and are suffering,” says Armine Aleksanyan, who was a former diplomat for the Republic of Artsakh. The current peace process is imposed and cannot be described as “real peace”. “It will be difficult to talk meaningfully about such ‘peace’,” adds Aleksanyan, who recently visited Switzerland.
At the end of April, she met Swiss members of parliament from the “Swiss Peace Initiative for Nagorno-Karabakh” committee in the Federal Palace who supported her cause. The committee demands that the Federal Council organize an international peace forum with Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians to negotiate the return of the displaced population.
The committee bases its demand on a mandate transferred to the government by Parliament in March 2025. “The initiative was good and pushed the Foreign Affairs Department to act,” says National Councilor Stefan Müller-Altermatt (centre/SO), who is also a member of the committee. “In concrete terms, the peace initiative has not yet achieved enough.”
Return is “the most sensitive issue”
Both the government in Baku and that in Yerevan want nothing to do with a forum for the return of the displaced population, as they have already communicated several times. “To have a discussion, you have to be in pairs,” said Federal President Guy Parmelin earlier this week on the sidelines of a European summit in Yerevan.
The Armenian government invited people to the meeting of the European Political Community (EPG). All European countries except Russia and Belarus were invited, as were the leaders of international organizations such as the EU.
Return is “the most sensitive issue,” an EU official in Brussels said on condition of anonymity ahead of the summit. The EU would rather not talk about it, he continued.
“The West doesn’t want to talk about our return because it fears that it could jeopardize the peace process,” says Beglaryan. “But peace is only possible through a just, inclusive and sustainable solution.”
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev had a different opinion at the summit. He condemned a recent European Parliament resolution. She would “sabotage” the process, he said in his speech.
In the resolution, Parliament reiterated its support for the rights of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh, including their right to a “safe, unhindered and dignified return.”
Nagorno-Karabakh is an issue in the election campaign
Thanks to the resolution from Brussels and the work of the committee in Bern, the issue remains on the agenda, says Beglaryan. This is an issue in the current election campaign in Armenia.
Parliamentary elections will take place in the South Caucasus state on June 7th. While incumbent Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan avoids the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh, according to observer Karapetyan, opposition candidates are taking it up in the election campaign, but sometimes without making any concrete promises. (sda)