Possible sanctions against Azerbaijan on the table, Canadian FM says

Possible sanctions against Azerbaijan are on the table, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said at a joint press conference with his Armenian counterpart Arart Mirzoyan in Yerevan.

“That being said, we expect that Armenia’s territorial integrity be respected, and for us this is definitely something that we are watching,” Joly said when asked whether Canada considers sanctions against Azerbaijan.

“Canada commends Armenia’s ongoing efforts to promote peace and stability within the region. But we all agree that more needs to be done. As part of our continued work, Canada calls for the full respect of the territorial integrity of Armenia and reaffirms the importance of the strict adherence to the principle of the non-use of force and threat of use of force. Canada also calls on the Azerbaijani government for the respect of the right of return of the recently displaced Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh and to show good faith in facilitating the restoration of unimpeded humanitarian access to Nagorno-Karabakh for the safe return of ethnic Armenians,” the Canadian FM said.

Joly announced that Canada is increasing its humanitarian assistance for the displaced persons of Nagorno-Karabakh to a total of 3,9 million dollars. This includes an additional 1 million dollars to the UNHCR and 2,5 million dollars to the ICRC to help meet the needs of the forcibly displaced persons.