Costas Mavrides: If no power restrains the Aliyev regime, this will be the end for Artsakh

“The crime of ethnic cleansing has already been going on for months, but recent days have culminated into something beyond any expectations,” Costas Mavrides, a member of the European Parliament from Cyprus, said in an interview with Alpha News.

“We are already too late, but the EU can still exercise its power to terminate the ongoing exodus of Armenians from Artsakh. It is time for us to guarantee in practice the safety and life of people who would choose to stay in their homeland. This is a fundamental human right. And the reason why all these people choose to leave their homeland and become refugees, it’s simply because the Aliyev regime persecutes them. We all know bloody games of Azeris and Turks. Once the ethnic cleansing of the population takes over, we are going to see the cultural genocide which extinguishes any Armenian and any Christian element from the area,” the MEP said.

Mavrides stressed the need to impose sanctions, as well as extend a hand to everyone who needs a shelter. “Because these are real refugees. And if the European Union as a whole, as a union, is not ready to do that, then the member states could do it on their own. As for Cyprus, I can say that we are ready to welcome our Armenian brothers and sisters in Cyprus with open arms,” the MEP said.

He shared his personal experience when he himself was a refugee due to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. “I know what it means to become a refugee. I went through this when I was a little child after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. If there is no guarantee that some power will restrain the Aliyev regime, we all know that this will be the end for Artsakh. That’s why we should act now,” the MEP stressed.