Azerbaijani community in Netherlands appeals to parliament over pro-Armenian bias
The Azerbaijani community of the Netherlands has addressed Speaker of the (Lower) House of Representatives of the Netherlands Parliament Vera Bergkamp with a letter, Azernews reports.
The letter sent on behalf of the Motherland European Azerbaijani Women's Union expresses concerns of the 15,000-strong Azerbaijani community living in the Netherlands about the tension between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and the one-sided, biased position of the lower house on this matter. The community calls on the lower house to take an impartial, fair, and balanced position in relation to Azerbaijan, and evaluate the events objectively.
“We are concerned that the lower house does not react to Armenia's systematic and regular violations of international humanitarian law. Although the Armenian prime minister signed the agreement on the cessation of the war on November 10, 2020, the official Yerevan continues the policy of mining Azerbaijani territories. In August 2022, a total of 2,728 anti-personnel mines, made in 2021, were discovered in the liberated territories of Azerbaijan. In other words, while the Dutch parliament passed resolutions supporting Armenia, this country continued its criminal mine policy that resulted in the death of 268 people, including 9 children, a woman, and 3 journalists,” the letter reads.
The letter added that only 8 percent of the territory liberated in 2020 after a 28-year-long occupation has been demined and 750,000 IDPs are unable to return to their home yet. This results in socio-economic and humanitarian problems.
“Do they not have human rights, or are human rights only the monopoly of the Armenian people?" - the letter questioned.
It added that the failure of the Lower House to react to Armenia's violation of international humanitarian law so far, the transfer of illegal armed groups and weapons to Karabakh through the Lachin corridor by Armenia, which is open only for humanitarian purposes, missing over 4,000 Azerbaijanis in the first Karabakh war, and the transfer of Iranian military experts illegally into Karabakh cause astonishment by the Azerbaijani community in the Netherlands.
"We are watching with horror and pain images of the discovery of mass graves of our compatriots in the territories liberated from occupation. Why does your parliament not put pressure on Armenia to transfer all information about missing people, including the map of mass graves to Azerbaijanis to bury their relatives and friends in accordance with our traditions?" community members asked the speaker.
In addition, it was emphasized that the Dutch MPs turned a blind eye to Armenia's violation of provisions of the agreement dated November 10, 2020, preventing the opening of transport routes between the western regions of Azerbaijan and its Nakhchivan exclave.
“For almost 30 years, the Autonomous Republic of Nakhchivan and its 300,000 inhabitants have been under blockade, communication with it is possible only through air transport,” the letter concluded.
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