The third anniversary of the end of the second Karabakh war is approaching. Despite numerous meetings between politicians, statements and declarations, none of the parties has so far taken any significant action to create conditions for peaceful co-existence. 

On the contrary, attempts of political and military pressure, including blockade of the Lachin corridor and creation of the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh, have not stopped in recent months. Revanchist and militaristic ideas are still popular in Armenian and Azerbaijani societies.

Achieving sustainable peace without use of force should be a priority for all sides of the conflict. Everything possible must be done so that people stop hating, fearing, harming, and killing  each other. 

We demand the following initial steps towards a peaceful settlement of the situation:

1. Take measures to bring the life of the Nagorno-Karabakh population back to normal.

2. Stop using hate speech and threats (especially at the official level).

3. Renounce the use of military force and minimize the involvement of the military (armed men) in contacts between the parties to the conflict.

4. Support any civil, cultural, and educational initiatives and projects aimed at creating conditions for mutual understanding.

5. Make concrete proposals for open public discussion on the configurations of co-existence in Nagorno-Karabakh. Given that Azerbaijan gained a politically advantageous position after the second Karabakh war, it is its government that bears the primary responsibility to restrain from ultimatums and coercion which create humanitarian distress. In general, Azerbaijani government must show political will for a peaceful co-existence.

6. The government of Armenia and the political elites in Nagorno-Karabakh, in their turn, should stop nurturing revanchist ideas and instead promote discourses of peaceful co-existence. 

7. Those people who live in the region, expect to remain or plan to return there should be provided with the possibility to actively engage in the search for compromise solutions․ In their turn, they should abandon their mythical nationalist ideas. 

8. Amnesty should be declared for all former combatants who have not committed war crimes, while impartial, just and open investigation of the war crimes committed during the first and second Karabakh wars should be held. The punishment of war criminals should be considered as one of the steps in the process of applying transitional justice and restoration of trust between the conflict sides.

9. The imperialistic actors should cease their cynical approach of using the humanitarian crisis for their geopolitical ends. Their indifference towards human sufferings in Nagorno-Karabakh is unacceptable.