European Parliament urged to assist restoration of hostages’ rights
By Sara Rajabova
Azerbaijanis called on the European Parliament not to remain indifferent to the fate of Azerbaijani hostages.
European Azerbaijanis Congress (EAC) has appealed to the European Parliament over the fate of the Azerbaijanis taken hostage by Armenia, the State Committee for Work with Diaspora reported.
EAC sent an appeal to Nile Mujzhnieks, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights. The appeal, sent on Human Rights Day, provides information about the conditions of Azerbaijani hostages - Shahbaz Guliyev and Dilgam Asgarov, taken hostage by Armenians on the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, as well as their illegal trial by the separatist regime of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenian special forces killed Azerbaijani citizen Hasan Hasanov and took hostage Shahbaz Guliyev and Dilgam Asgarov in the Shaplar village of the occupied Kelbajar region on July 11. The civilians were visiting the graves of their relatives. The Armenians have put on trial on October 27 the two Azerbaijanis, who were captured in their native lands by the Armenian separatists.
EAC called on the European countries not to remain indifferent to the human rights violation. The congress said the life of Azerbaijani hostages is constantly under threat, and demanded assistance in the restoration of violated rights of Azerbaijani hostages.
"We urge the international community, as part of international legal norms to avoid double standards, to condemn the aggressive policy of Armenia, and to keep a united and objective position to restore and protect the violated human rights," the statement reads.
EAC said 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory is occupied by Armenia, and also mentioned the UN resolutions on the liberation of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The bloody war, which flared up in the late 1980s due to Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor, left without home over a million of civilians of Nagorno-Karabakh and the regions adjoining it, as well as the regions bordering with Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
As a result of the military aggression of Armenia, over 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed, 4,866 are reported missing, almost 100,000 were injured, and 50,000 were disabled.
The UN Security Council has passed four resolutions on Armenia's withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been enforced to this day.