Parliament appeals to int'l organizations to assist in returning body of Azerbaijani soldier
By Rashid Shirinov
Armenia is still holding the body of Azerbaijani Armed Forces’ soldier Chingiz Gurbanov , who was killed during the prevention of the Armenian sabotage in late December 2016.
The issue of returning the soldier’s body was also raised by the Azerbaijani Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, which appealed to international organizations over Armenia’s refusal to return the body of the soldier, APA reported.
“Armenia, which has been keeping twenty percent of Azerbaijani territory under occupation for more than 25 years, continues to violate the international law. Armenia’s refusal to return the body of Azerbaijani soldier Chingiz Gurbanov, who was killed while fighting to prevent an Armenian diversion group from violating Azerbaijan’s state border on December 29 last year, is a clear example of it,” reads the appeal.
“The Azerbaijani side has appealed to international organizations on the matter. The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs and Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland made statements urging Armenia to return the soldier’s body immediately. They emphasized the necessity to respect international law and expressed their support for the just stance of the Azerbaijani side based on the agreements reached at the Astrakhan summit of the OSCE Minsk Group. Nevertheless, Armenia is still committed to its practice from the Karabakh war — revenging the dead bodies and trading over them, blatantly breaching the Geneva conventions and making baseless claims.”
The Parliamentary Committee is sure that the international community must react to the inhumane acts of Armenia. “We call on concerned international organizations to take immediate actions and increase pressure on Armenia to return the dead body of the Azerbaijani soldier,” reads the appeal.
A reconnaissance group of the Armenian Armed Forces attempted to violate the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border on December 29, 2016. The Armenian group found itself in the ambush of the Azerbaijani army while violating the borders and suffered heavy losses. During the fighting, Azerbaijani serviceman Chingiz Gurbanov went missing. Later, it was clarified that he was killed by the Armenian Armed Forces and his body remained on the territory controlled by the Armenian armed forces.
To receive back the dead body of the Azerbaijani soldier, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry officially appealed to the Azerbaijani representation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), OSCE Minsk Group, as well as to the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk.
Despite numerous insistent appeals of international structures regarding the return of Gurbanov’s body, the Armenian government still keeps the dead body.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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