Several universities have already announced that they will not attend СOP29 in Baku — Haig Minasian

The main goal of the ARF Shant Student Association is to develop the Armenian Cause, Chair of the Association Haig Minasian told Alpha News.

“The Shant Student Association includes members of the ARF party from different universities, and the main goal of our work is to develop the Armenian Cause. When problems arise, we coordinate work with universities in the US and other countries,” he said.

According to Minasyan, there are Armenian student unions in universities in the US and other countries such as Canada, Australia, etc.

“There is a UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which has been signed by 197 countries. Every year a city is selected where everyone gathers, discusses, and talks about their goals for the future. This year, almost the entire world will gather in Baku, but it will not only be countries. Universities also send their representatives,” Haig Minasian said.

He called for not going to Baku to participate in COP29 and, if going, to use this platform to speak up about the problems of the Armenian people.

“There are universities in America that will send representatives to Azerbaijan to participate in COP29, but I think this is wrong. We call for a boycott of the conference. Do not attend it, or if you do, help us and speak up about the problems of the Armenian community. We want public institutions to write why they will not go to the conference, and if they do, they should use it as a platform to speak up about the Armenian people.

We assume that after the conference in Baku, its participants will be offered to visit Karabakh. When COP28 was held in Dubai last year, Azerbaijan had a stand with the inscription ‘Green Karabakh’. And now, when people come to Baku, they will be offered to go to Artsakh,” he said.

Haig Minasian also reported that several universities have already announced that they will not attend the conference in Baku. “One of them is Columbia University,” he added.