Statement on "The aggression of Azerbaijan against Artsakh and Armenia with the direct involvement of Turkey and foreign terrorist fighters" as delivered by the Delegation of Armenia at the 1352th meeting of the Permanent Council

27 January, 2022

Mr. Chairperson,

On 27 September 2020, when Azerbaijan launched a war of aggression against Artsakh and its people with the intention of resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by force, the Armenian delegation clearly warned that the absence of a swift and robust response from the international community and in particular the OSCE to such a blatant violation of international law and the principles and commitments of the OSCE would have serious negative consequences not only for regional but also for European security as a whole. As the saying goes, “Give someone an inch, and they’ll take a mile.”

Mr. Chairperson,

Thirty years ago, it was around this time that Armenia joined the OSCE, then still the CSCE, with the heavy burden of the ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, hundreds of thousands of refugees from Azerbaijan fleeing massacres and pogroms, and the devastating consequences of the 1988 earthquake that wiped out entire cities and villages along with their inhabitants. And yet, in joining the OSCE, Armenia hoped that by becoming part of the new Europe with its concept of comprehensive and co-operative security, the aspirations of its people to live freely and safely in their historical homeland would be ensured and the Nagorno‑Karabakh conflict would be resolved by peaceful means, with full respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the people of Artsakh.

Today, alas, despite high expectations and great effort invested, we find ourselves back at square one. Years of negotiations and hard work carried out within the OSCE have been effectively watered down, and the credibility of the Organization has been seriously undermined, as has its bedrock principle of refraining from the threat or use of force. The war of aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan on 27 September 2020, in the midst of a global pandemic, and the inability of the OSCE to prevent this new violence and aggression have on the one hand exposed the shortcomings and weaknesses of the OSCE, and on the other have turned great expectations into great disappointment for the peoples of Armenia and Artsakh.

Mr. Chairperson,

More than a year after the signing of the trilateral ceasefire statement on 9 November 2020, the prospects for peace in the region are still elusive. Azerbaijan continues its aggressive actions, such as the incursion into the sovereign territory of Armenia, the constant military escalation and ceasefire violations along the State border and on the line of contact with Artsakh, the continued illegal detention of Armenian prisoners of war and civilian captives, and the destruction and misappropriation of Armenian cultural heritage, to name just a few. There is a clear discrepancy between Azerbaijan’s declared intention of peaceful co‑existence and its real actions.

A litmus test of the real intentions of Azerbaijan is the issue of the prisoners of war and other illegally detained persons. This remains one of the main challenges, which further deepens the atmosphere of mistrust and animosity. There is no mistaking the implications of Azerbaijan’s complete disregard for its international obligations under international humanitarian law and for the trilateral statement of 9 November 2020.

Baku’s mock trials and the imposition of lengthy prison sentences on trumped‑up charges clearly indicate that Azerbaijan is seeking to prolong the illegal detention of Armenian prisoners of war and civilian hostages. Currently, a mock trial of Ishkhan Sargsyan and Vladimir Raphaelyan, who were captured in the Gegharkunik region of Armenia as a result of the 12 May incursion, is being held at the court of Baku. Azerbaijan is prosecuting these two Armenian servicemen, who were abducted by its armed forces during Azerbaijan’s incursion into the sovereign territory of Armenia, on ludicrous charges of terrorism. The absurdity of these accusations does not prevent official in Baku from continuing its mockery of jurisprudence. We expect the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights to step up its efforts to ensure the right of Armenian prisoners of war to a fair trial.

Mr. Chairperson,

So far, Azerbaijan has acknowledged the detention of only 46 Armenians, all of whom have been tried on fabricated criminal charges.

Despite the existence of a large amount of video, photo and other evidence, including evidence posted on the social networks, Azerbaijan continues to conceal the real number of Armenian prisoners of war and other captives, and the places of their detention. In addition, Azerbaijan is in effect refusing to implement the interim measures of the European Court of Human Rights, since it failed to provide any information in this regard by the deadline of 6 December 2021 set by the Court.

Armenia is deeply concerned by Azerbaijan’s refusal to provide accurate information about the Armenian prisoners of war. The cases of enforced disappearance, torture and inhuman treatment of Armenian prisoners of war and civilian hostages are still awaiting a proper response from relevant international organizations and partners, including the OSCE.

Mr. Chairperson,

Today, more than a year after the cessation of hostilities, the fate of many Armenian historical monuments, religious sites and museum exhibits currently under the control of Azerbaijan remains unclear, as they are at serious risk of deliberate destruction, vandalism and desecration. There is a lot of evidence indicating that in the recently occupied territories of Artsakh, the Azerbaijan army has been engaged in the destruction of graveyards and monuments commemorating fallen Armenian heroes of the first Nagorno-Karabakh war.

Given the practice of systematic destruction and appropriation of Armenian cultural heritage in Azerbaijan over the past decades, there are serious concerns about the preservation of such monuments, religious sites and museum exhibits in the recently occupied territories.

The Azerbaijani Government employs two main methods to get rid of the Armenian cultural heritage and historical presence in Nagorno-Karabakh – physical destruction and misappropriation or alteration of the identity of historical sites. Wherever the first method is not feasible due to media attention or an easily accessible location, the Azerbaijani authorities use the second method, trying to change the identity of the monuments of Armenian cultural heritage by denying their historical roots and labelling them as mythical “Caucasian Albanian heritage”. In fact, attempts to misappropriate Armenian culture are also being made in order to substantiate Azerbaijan’s false claim to be a descendant and successor of the early medieval Caucasian Albanian State (which ceased to exist about one thousand years ago).

I will not dwell on the historical and scientific value of such claims and narratives, which are not supported by any serious experts on history except for Azerbaijani ones. However, such a distortion of history and misrepresentation of Armenian heritage and cultural looting, which is a clear violation of the relevant international legal instruments, is being carried out in order to pursue a broader goal of denying the historical existence of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, because the very fact of Armenians having lived in Nagorno-Karabakh is a severe challenge to the Azeri claims of indigeneity in the area.

Azerbaijan has never made any secret of its intention to use cultural destruction and misappropriation as a means of conducting demographic engineering in Nagorno-Karabakh and bringing about the complete distortion of the region’s cultural identity.

In particular, recently there have been reports that Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shushi, currently under Azerbaijani occupation, will be completely reconstructed with the aim of changing its Armenian identity or even turning it into a mosque. Furthermore, the publicly pronounced plans for the construction of new mosques in Karin Tak and Hadrut and the reconstruction of the historical centre of Hadrut speak for themselves. It should be noted that both settlements never had an Azerbaijani population before they were occupied by Azerbaijan in 2020.

On 15 March 2021, the Azerbaijani President visited the 17th-century Armenian church in the village of Tsakuri in the Hadrut region of Artsakh, currently under the occupation of the Azerbaijani armed forces, and openly declared it “Caucasian Albanian”. He labelled the Armenian inscriptions on the church’s walls “fake”, thus preparing the ground for future acts of vandalism in explicit violation of the 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and of United Nations Security Council resolution 2347 (2017).

The indigenous Armenian origin of the religious sites is not only supported by ample historiographical evidence but is also verifiable through their strict correspondence to the distinctive architectural features, canons and worship practices of the Armenian Apostolic Church, not to mention the thousands of inscriptions in the Armenian language on the churches and other places of worship that tell of the history of the construction of those monuments.

Mr. Chairperson,

On many occasions, Armenia has declared its firm belief that despite Azerbaijan’s derogatory rhetoric and aggressive actions there is no alternative to a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Armenia continues to express its readiness to continue the dialogue, under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, capitalizing on the meetings held in New York and Paris. It is high time to restart the work on finding a lasting, just and sustainable solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

We fully concur with the Co-Chairs that the international humanitarian organizations should enjoy unhindered access to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict area and we call on Azerbaijan to stop politicizing this purely humanitarian issue. All humanitarian and specialized organizations and agencies should be allowed full and unhindered access to Nagorno‑Karabakh in order to carry out their mandated work without undue hindrance and restrictions.

Armenia is looking forward to welcoming the Co-Chairs in Armenia and is also looking forward to their fully fledged and long-overdue visit to the region to assess the situation on the ground. We once again urge the Co-Chairs to redouble their efforts to carry out a fully fledged visit to the region and implement their mandated work. We also expect that the Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office will visit his mission area, including Stepanakert, to carry out his mandated work without undue delay.

Mr. Chairperson,

The current situation in Nagorno-Karabakh is the result of a flagrant violation by Azerbaijan of several core principles of the Helsinki Final Act, namely, refraining from the threat or use of force; the peaceful settlement of disputes; equal rights and self-determination of peoples; and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. No one should be under any illusion that the results of the use of force, accompanied by war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law, can ever become the basis for a lasting and sustainable peace. Such a peace can be achieved in the region only through a comprehensive settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which must include the determination of the status of Artsakh on the basis of the realization by the people of Artsakh of their inalienable right to self‑determination; the ensuring of the safe and dignified return of displaced population to their homes; and the preservation of the region’s historical and religious heritage.

I kindly ask you to attach this statement to the journal of today’s meeting.

Thank you.

MFA RA
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