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Karabakh Azerbaijani Community's: Armenia rejects calls for dialogue

22 September 2020 17:15 (UTC+04:00)
Karabakh Azerbaijani Community's: Armenia rejects calls for dialogue

By Akbar Mammadov

Nagorno-Karabakh’s Azerbaijani Community has said that Armenia continuously rejects the community’s call for constructive dialogue between the region’s Azerbaijani and Armenian communities.

"As the expelled Azerbaijani population of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, we have been advocating for the peaceful settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict for years. The calls of our community for a constructive dialogue to end the conflict have always been met with ethnic hatred, acrimony and denialism of existence by Armenia,” the community said in a statement issued on the International Day of Peace on September 21.

Furthermore, the community stressed that despite the UN Secretary-General’s appeal for global cease-fire urging warring parties across the world to lay down their weapons in support of the bigger battle against COVID-19, Armenia ignored this appeal to realize its vicious plans of occupation.

"In the midst of the pandemic, on July 12, Armenia launched an attack to capture new Azerbaijani territories through which critical lifelines are passing. This is the continuation of Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan which has been going on for the last three decades. As a result of this aggression, one-fifth of Azerbaijani territories remain under Armenian occupation, making impossible the return of nearly a million expelled Azerbaijanis back to their homes," the statement reads.

Furthermore, the community highlighted that in order to consolidate the consequences of the occupation, Armenia has been building illegal settlements in the occupied Azerbaijani territories. "It has even misused the recent horrific explosion in Port of Beirut as an opportunity to move more Armenians to the occupied Azerbaijani territories, which is not only a violation of the international humanitarian law but also a war crime.”

The community also pointed out that while hypocritically making calls for peace, Anna Hakobyan, the wife of Armenia's Prime Minister recently staged a military training for Armenian women in the occupied Azerbaijani territories.

"This begs the question, what is the 'peace-loving' wife of the 'peace-loving' Prime Minister of Armenia doing in the territory of another country in a military uniform aiming a weapon at the people of that country?"

"While genuinely believing in the possibility of establishing peace, we call on the international community to urge Armenia to withdraw its occupying Armed Forces and allow us to return back to our homes and lands."

The community stressed that “this would be in line with the spirit of the International Peace Day which we sadly "celebrate" without peace.”

A serviceman of the Azerbaijan Army, Junior Sergeant Elshan Mammadov was killed at 09:20 on September 21 in Armenian attack in the Tovuz direction on the border.

Another Azerbaijani serviceman Gurbanov Gurban received a shrapnel wound as a result of cease-fire violation by Armenian forces in the direction of Tovuz region’s Aghdam village on September 20.

On the same day, Azerbaijan’s Defence Ministry reported the downing of Armenian UAV carrying out reconnaissance flight over the positions of the Azerbaijani Army's.

It should be noted that Armenia has stepped up its military provocation recently, staging sabotage both on the border and on the line of contact.

On July 12, Armenian forces shelled Azerbaijan's positions in Tovuz, Azerbaijan's strategically-important district. The attack killed 12 Azerbaijani servicemen, including an army general, as well as a 76-year-old civilian. Armenian forces retreated after suffering losses in Azerbaijan's retaliation.

Azerbaijan and Armenia are locked in a conflict over Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh breakaway region, which along with seven adjacent regions was occupied by Armenian forces in a war in the early 1990s. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and around one million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by the United States, Russia and France has been mediating the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict since the signing of the volatile cease-fire agreement in 1994. The Minsk Group’s efforts have resulted in no progress and to this date, Armenia has failed to abide by the UN Security Council resolutions (822, 853, 874 and 884) that demand the withdrawal of Armenian military forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

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Akbar Mammadov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AkbarMammadov97

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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