Armenia’s Permanent Representative to the U.N., Karen Nazaryan, raised the issue of the Azerbaijani occupation of Artzvashen, Shahoumyan and Getashen during his speech yesterday at the Security Council.

U.N. Secretary General Ban-Ki moon and over 50 reps of U.N. member states were present at the discussion regarding the protection of civilian populations in conflict zones.

Ambassador Nazaryan also underscored the responsibility of Azerbaijan of engaging in violations directed at civilians in the Karabakh conflict and trampling the rights of hundreds of thousands of Armenian refugees.

Nazaryan said that as a result of the conflict entire Armenian communities had been destroyed, including Artzvashen and  the northern Artsakh Republic communities of Shahoumyan, Getashen and 18 other villages which remain under Azerbaijani occupation.