Artsakh Human Rights Defender Gegham Stepanyan, in a Facebook post today, accused foreign diplomats and others who visit Shushi of indirectly supporting Baku’s attempt to legitimize its seizure of the town and erasing its Armenian identity.

Stepanyan writes Azerbaijan has always set its sights on capturing Shushi, which he describes as the Armenian cultural center of Artsakh and has employed a policy of ethnic cleansing both in the 2020 war and in the early 1900s.

Baku has organized several so-called “international conferences” in Shushi following the 2020 war attended by accredited foreign diplomats in Azerbaijan.

In August, the ambassadors of the U.S. and France refused to attend one such conference, provoking the ire of Baku.

Stepanyan writes Shushi, despite Azerbaijani occupation, was and will continue to be an integral part of the Republic of Artsakh.