Armenia's military provocations impeding IDP return & regional peace, stability
By Vugar Khalilov
Armenia’s military provocations are impeding the return of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and the maintaining the regional peace and stability, Azernews reports, citing the Foreign Ministry.
This opinion was mentioned in a letter Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov addressed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on August 23 on Armenia’s ongoing illegal military activities, including mine planting in Azerbaijani territory. The letter was circulated as a document to the UN General Assembly and the Security Council.
“At a time when large-scale rehabilitation and reconstruction works, including intensive demining activities, are being carried out by Azerbaijan in order to ensure peaceful life in the territories liberated from the military occupation of Armenia, the illegal military activities of Armenia are presenting a serious blow to the efforts for the return of internally displaced persons to their places of origin and to ensure peace and stability in the region,” the letter reads.
The letter has drawn attention to the discovery of a large number of anti-personnel mines manufactured in Armenia in 2021 in Azerbaijan's Lachin District, demonstrating Armenia's gross violation of the Trilateral Statement of November 10, 2020.
It underlines that contrary to paragraph 4 of the aforementioned Trilateral Statement, Armenia has neither withdrawn its armed forces from Azerbaijani territory nor has it ended military operations against Azerbaijan.
The letter provides proof about the 232 mine victims since the signing of the Trilateral Statement of 10 November 2020.
Meanwhile, Mukhtar Tileuberdi, Kazakhstan's Deputy Prime Minister said that sending Kazakh peacekeepers to Armenia is out of the question due to the deterioration of the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
"Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at the extraordinary meeting of the CSTO Collective Security Council informed heads of states, members of CSTO about the situation on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border. In general, information was accepted. Naturally, members of CSTO wanted to receive objective information, because different information comes from both sides. Thus, heads of states decided that the CSTO Secretary-General should go to the region, get proper information, and then inform them," he said.
On the other hand, Russian Presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the mission of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) led by Secretary General Stanislav Zas hasn't yet arrived in Armenia, Azernews reports, citing the Russian media.
"No, [the CSTO mission] hasn't arrived yet, as far as I know. After all, the decision was made only late yesterday evening. The mission has yet to be formed and fly there," he added.
Special Representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Igor Khovayev will visit Azerbaijan and Armenia to work on a peace treaty, Denis Gonchar, director of the ministry's fourth department for CIS nations said.
"The issue of preparing a peace treaty has an important place in our efforts to promote the normalization of the Armenian-Azerbaijani relations," Gonchar noted.
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