The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh and the demand for the return of the displaced population are not leaving Armenia in peace. Swiss politicians are also discussing these sensitive issues.

The fronts in the South Caucasian state are hardened: While some fear that a return of the displaced people could jeopardize the peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan, others believe that the peace process is doomed to failure without the inclusion of the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians.

“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 return of the displaced population to their homeland, as he said in an interview with the Keystone-SDA news agency in Yerevan. Nagorno-Karabakh is also known as Artsakh in Armenia.

The population was displaced by the Azerbaijani military, which brought the region under the control of Baku. Nagorno-Karabakh has always been Azerbaijani territory and was populated by a majority of Armenians until 2023.

“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, a political scientist at Yerevan State University. More recent reliable figures are not available.

Peace process does not provide for return

The government in Yerevan is offering the displaced population a settlement program in Armenia. This includes obtaining an Armenian passport and financial aid. “The money is enough for a family to buy a house,” says Karapetyan. Around 40,000 people have already made use of this.

At the same time, the Armenian and Azerbaijani governments are trying to normalize relations. In August 2025, they signed a joint declaration in Washington under the aegis of US President Donald Trump with the aim of achieving peace. A possible return of the displaced population is not mentioned in the declaration.

Process does not bring “real peace”

“The people of Nagorno-Karabakh are not part of the discussion and are suffering,” says Armine Aleksanyan, a former diplomat for the Republic of Artsakh. The current peace process is being imposed and cannot be described as “real peace”. “It will be difficult to talk meaningfully about such a ‘peace’,” adds Aleksanyan, who was recently in Switzerland.

At the end of April, she met Swiss members of parliament from the “Swiss Peace Initiative for Nagorno-Karabakh” committee, who are campaigning for her cause, at the Federal Palace. The committee is calling on the Federal Council to organize an international peace forum with Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians to negotiate the return of the displaced population.

The committee’s demand is based on a mandate given to the government by parliament in March 2025. “The initiative was good and urged the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs to act,” says National Councillor Stefan Müller-Altermatt (center/SO), who is also a member of the committee. “In concrete terms, however, the peace initiative has still achieved too little.”

Return is “the most sensitive issue”

Both the government in Baku and that in Yerevan do not want to know anything about 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 President Guy Parmelin earlier this week on the sidelines of a European summit in Yerevan.

The meeting of the European Political Community (EPC) was hosted by the Armenian government. All European states except Russia and Belarus were invited, as well as the heads of international organizations such as the EU.

The return is “the most sensitive issue”, said an EU official in Brussels, speaking on condition of anonymity before the summit. The EU would rather not talk about it, he continued.

“The West does not want to talk about our return because it fears that it could jeopardize the peace process,” said Beglaryan. “But peace is only possible through a just, inclusive and sustainable solution.”

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev was of a different opinion at the summit. He condemned a resolution recently passed by the European Parliament. It would “sabotage” the process, he said in his speech.

In the resolution, the 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. It is therefore an issue in the current election campaign in Armenia.

Parliamentary elections will be held in the South Caucasian state on June 7. While the incumbent Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan avoids the topic of Nagorno-Karabakh, opposition candidates are taking it up in the election campaign, according to the observer Karapetyan, but sometimes without making concrete commitments.