Armenian Migration Service Head Armen Ghazaryan, at the 69th session of the Executive Committee of the UNHCR being held in Geneva, blasted Azerbaijan for using its refugees as pawns to advance its foreign policy objectives.

Responding to accusations made by the Azerbaijani delegation that Armenia continues its aggressive stance in the Karabakh conflict, Ghazaryan said, “Certain delegates are politicizing this platform, just like the Azerbaijani delegate did.”

Ghazaryan said that while Armenia has taken in some 400,000 refugees as a result of the Karabakh war, most of whom have been successfully integrated into society, Azerbaijan keeps its people in a permanent refugee state for political ends.

Responding to Azerbaijani claims that Armenia is exploiting the refugee crisis in Syria for its own political aims, Ghazaryan replied: “Such charges will not lessen our desire and willingness to continue our assistance to that friendly country that accepted millions of Armenian refugees after the 1915 Genocide. We will continue to accept them, by taking steps to afford them security in our country.”