Press release on the current situation in the armed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan
Press release on the current situation in the armed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan
5 July 2017
According to the reports by the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Azerbaijan, on 4 July 2017 the armed forces of the Republic of Armenia carried out another large-scale provocation against Azerbaijan. The Armenian armed forces deliberately attacked civilians and civilian targets in Alkhanli village of the Fizuli region of Azerbaijan, using 82 and 120 millimetre mortars and heavy grenade launchers. As a result of this targeted attacks, Mrs. Sahiba Guliyeva (born in 1967) and her 2 years old granddaughter Zahra Guliyeva were killed. Another civilian Mrs. Sarvinaz Guliyeva (born in 1965) was wounded and has been taken to the military hospital.
Armenia has been conducting systematic, deliberate and targeted attacks on civilian population of Azerbaijan encompassing, inter alia, women, children and elderly residing in the densely populated areas adjacent to the frontline.
Armenia’s attacks against the Azerbaijani civilian population and civilian targets, constitute a serious violation of international humanitarian and human rights law, in particular the 1949 Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocol I thereto, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
The unlawful presence of the armed forces of Armenia in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan is the primary reason of the continued tensions and ongoing incidents along the frontline and major impediment to the resolution of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
After the visit of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to the region in June 2017, the Co-Chairs called for changing the status quo in the conflict by launching substantive and serious negotiations. However, Armenian side responded to these calls by brutal killings of the civilians. By escalating the situation in a deliberate manner Armenia pursues the goal of undermining the resolution of the conflict via substantive negotiations and maintaining the status quo of the occupation.
This situation once again demonstrates the urgent necessity that the Co-Chairs and the international organizations demand Armenia to withdraw its troops from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan in accordance with the norms and principles of international law and relevant decisions and resolutions of the international organizations. The fundamental basis for the settlement of the conflict is laid down in the United Nations Security Council resolutions 822(1993), 853(1993), 874(1993) and 884(1993) and the United Nations General Assembly resolution 62/243 (2008), which condemn the use of force against Azerbaijan and occupation of its territories by Armenia and reaffirm the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and the inviolability of its internationally recognized borders. In those resolutions, the United Nations reaffirmed that the Nagorno-Karabakh region is an inalienable part of Azerbaijan and demanded immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the occupying forces from all occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan calls the international community to demand Armenia to cease the illegal occupation of Azerbaijan’s territories, to withdraw its troops from all occupied lands and to engage constructively in the conflict settlement process.
The responsibility for the current situation and its possible deterioration completely falls on the political-military leadership of Armenia.
