Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg on Friday called on politicians and journalists present at the COP29 on climate in Baku to “visit the Armenian hostages” and demand the immediate release of “all political prisoners”.
“We call on the international media and those in power in Baku to visit the Armenian hostages and demand the immediate release of all political prisoners, prisoners of war and hostages,” Greta Thunberg said during a demonstration in front of the UN representation in Yerevan, Armenia.
“We will not fall for Azerbaijan’s lies when they try to ‘greenwash’ their ethnic cleansing and their crimes,” she accused, according to videos of the demonstration, which brought together around twenty people.
Armenia and Azerbaijan, former Soviet republics in the Caucasus, fought two wars, in the early 1990s and in 2020. Both sides have filed lawsuits against each other, claiming accusing each other of “ethnic cleansing”.
In September 2023, Azerbaijani forces regained total control of Nagorno-Karabakh, following a lightning offensive which put an end to three decades of separatism in this mountainous enclave mainly populated by Armenians.
The Azerbaijani operation led most of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh, more than 100,000 people, to the path of exodus towards Armenia.
The holding of COP29 in Azerbaijan, a country rich in hydrocarbons where repression against all forms of protest is regularly denounced, has been widely criticized.
International rights groups have denounced the crackdowns that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s government unleashed against civil society activists ahead of COP29.
The European Parliament also criticized Azerbaijan’s crackdown on its opponents and said “ongoing human rights violations are incompatible” with hosting the COP.
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© Agence France-Presse
Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg on Friday called on politicians and journalists present at the COP29 on climate in Baku to “visit the Armenian hostages” and demand the immediate release of “all political prisoners”.
“We call on the international media and those in power who are…
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