On 14 September, Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) stated that videos have been circulating on social networks demonstrating the continuation of Armenia’s policy of illegal settlement in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region. “After the explosion in the Lebanese city of Beirut, the aggressor state Armenia, using the tragedy in this country for its own nefarious purposes, began to implement plans to resettle Lebanese Armenians to Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas which are internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan and currently under military occupation,” the statement read. The reaction came after the leader of the internationally non-recognized Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh Arayik Harutyunyan posted a video Facebook showing the settlement of the first Lebanese Armenian families in Nagorno-Karabakh. Harutyunyan also announced his intent to form a colony of Lebanese Armenians in the region.  

The ministry stated that Armenia is trying to artificially increase the number of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh by illegally resettling ethnic Armenians who have nothing to do with the region. It reminded that Yerevan has been preventing the return of the Azerbaijani IDPs forcefully expelled from Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas and whose human rights have been violated, to their homes and properties for nearly 30 years. 

Furthermore, the ministry said that it has raised the issue of illegal settlements in Nagorno-Karabakh with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, the group mediating the conflict, as well as with relevant international organisations. It should be noted that in August, the Azerbaijani FM revealed a satellite image of a residential complex consisting of 15 houses, which  started construction in occupied Kalbajar in late 2019.

Two days earlier, the Head of Azerbaijan’s Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration Hikmet Hajiyev also spoke on the issue, saying that Armenia is also using people from Lebanon and Syria resettled in the occupied territories as mercenaries. He stated that this move violates international humanitarian law, specifically the Geneva Convention from 1949. “According to the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, the occupying power cannot transfer its civilian population into the territory it occupies,” he said. “According to international law, the pursuit of illegal settlement policy by the occupying power in the occupied territories should be classified as a military crime. Ironically, such actions are considered a crime under Armenia's own legislation. In Article 390 of Armenia's Criminal Code, the occupying power's deportation of the local population and transfer of its people to the occupied territories is a grave violation of international humanitarian law, punishable by 8-12 years of imprisonment,” Hajiyev added.

The Azerbaijani NGO scene also sent international appeals in order to raise awareness of the current situation. “The fact of illegal settlement carried out by Armenia is also recorded in the reports of the OSCE fact-finding missions of 2005. The OSCE has sent fact-finding missions to the occupied lands twice and the report of these missions approved organized resettlement of Armenians to Karabakh. These facts are not raised only by Azerbaijani side. According to Any Meljumyan, from Euriasianet.org, following a devastating explosion in Beirut, the Armenian government prepared an aid package to help ethnic Armenians in Lebanon emigrate to Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh. More than 1300 Lebanese-Armenians have flown to Armenia and Karabakh as of  2 September, 850 intend to stay long-term, according to the Armenian Chief Commissioner of Diaspora issues Zareh Sinanyan. Several more Lebanese-Armenian families have moved to Nagorno-Karabakh, according to [the de-facto President] Arayik Harutyunyan. The [Armenian] authorities have allocated 25 million drams ($50,000) and another 17 million drams ($35,000) from another humanitarian fund to help with the resettlement,” the joint statement of the Azerbaijani NGO’s emphasized.