The entire Armenian Christian population of Nagorno Karabakh has been forcibly displaced. Siranush Sargsyan
Christian Solidarity International (CSI) has written to Switzerland’s President Guy Parmelin calling on him to use the upcoming European Political Community (EPC) summit in the Armenian capital as an opportunity to discuss an international peace forum for Nagorno Karabakh. Parmelin is leading the Swiss delegation to the summit that takes place in Yerevan on May 4.
The text of the letter, dated April 30 and signed by CSI President Dr. John Eibner follows:
Federal Councillor Mr. Guy Parmelin
President of the Swiss Confederation
Federal Palace West
BernZurich, April 30, 2026
CSI is pleased you will head Switzerland’s delegation at the 8th Meeting of the European Political Community in Yerevan on May 4.
We trust you will use the opportunity to fulfill the Federal Council’s parliamentary mandate to organize an international peace forum for Nagorno Karabakh, involving Azerbaijan and representatives of the disputed region’s forcibly displaced Armenian Christians population (Motion 24.4259).
The motion was tabled in response to Azerbaijan’s ethno-religious “cleansing” of Nagorno Karabakh in September 2023 following a nine-month blockade of its Armenian Christian population.
It was passed in the spirit of a resolution of the European Parliament, dated October 5, 2023, that identifies dialogue with “representatives of the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians [as] the only sustainable way forward.”
The European Parliament condemned the ethno-religious cleansing of Nagorno Karabakh as “a pre-planned and unjustified military attack by Azerbaijan against the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh,” and as a “gross violation of international law and human rights.”
A cross-party parliamentary committee of 19 Swiss parliamentarians, co-chaired by Erich Vontobel and Stefan Müller-Altermatt, is campaigning under the umbrella of the Swiss Peace Initiative for Nagorno Karabakh for the Federal Council to implement Motion 24.4259.
Your presence in Yerevan will provide you with an opportunity to take forward the Federal Council’s mandate by meeting with the representatives of the forcibly displaced Armenian Christian community, including their spiritual leader the Catholicos of All Armenians, Karekin II.
It will also provide you with an opportunity to gain support of other European states for whom respect for the international human rights instruments is a high priority.
We would encourage you to ensure that Motion 24.4259 is on the agenda of the Yerevan Meeting of the European Political Community.
Doing so would signal that the Federal Council places high priority on promoting the rule of law and fundamental human rights. Failure to act, on the other hand, would signal the opposite.
The manner in which the Federal Council acts or fails to act on the Swiss Peace Initiative will have implications that transcend far beyond the fate of the forcibly displaced Armenian Christian community of Nagorno Karabakh. They will be felt throughout Europe, not least in Switzerland.
May your engagement with the European Political Community in Yerevan on May 4 serve as a weight in favor of international law and human rights and against armed aggression and ethno-religious cleansing in all quarters of Europe’s expanding sphere of influence.
Sincerely,
Dr. John Eibner
President
Christian Solidarity International
