Statement delivered by the Delegation of Armenia at the 958th FSC Plenary Meeting on the Aggression of Azerbaijan against Artsakh and Armenia: Politico-Military Developments

21 October, 2020

We are already into the fourth week of the war unleashed by the triple Turkish-Azerbaijani-terrorists alliance against the Republic of Artsakh and its people. For almost four weeks the Defense Army of Artsakh have been fighting against Azerbaijani assault with the use of artillery, aviation, UAVs, armoured vehicles, as well as large numbers of ground forces.

This slide clearly shows the scale of the aggression. As of today, the armed forces of Azerbaijan has suffered the following losses: 202 UAVs, 16 combat helicopters and 23 fighter jets, 580 tanks and other armored vehicles, 4 “TOS” heavy flamethrower systems, 2 “Smerch” and 1 “Uragan” multiple launch rocket systems. The losses among Azerbaijani troops as counted by the Armenian side stands at 6459. Some of these losses of course are foreign terrorist fighters. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights updates from time to time the number of confirmed deaths among FTFs and jihadists.

Already twice there have been agreements on humanitarian truce, in Moscow on October 10 and with the personal mediation efforts of the French President on October 17, to enable humanitarian workers, mainly the ICRC to help retrieve the bodies of fallen soldiers and exchange prisoners of war and other people kept captive. And twice the armed forces of Azerbaijan supported by Turkey and with the involvement of the foreign terrorist fighters of various ethnicity and nationality continued its aggression against Artsakh and Armenia.

Unfortunately, as a result of Turkish-Azerbaijani aggression against Artsakh 36 civilians were killed and 115 wounded. More than 9830 immovable and movable property, infrastructure and industrial objects were destroyed or damaged.

Since September 27, the deliberate targeting of civilian areas and infrastructure became a signature mark of the Azerbaijani armed forces. During the 24 days of the war launched by the triple alliance, weapons banned under the international humanitarian law were used against the civilian settlements and infrastructure. Cultural and educational institutions were also targeted. As a result more than 33.000 children and youth are deprived from their right to education.

As we have already informed that only in Stepanakert the emergency services of the Artsakh Republic collected and destroyed around 673 Turkish and Israeli made unexploded cluster bombs and mines. In addition, during the recent shelling of the capital city of Stepanakert the use of cluster munition continued. Yesterday another 260 cluster bombs were found in a civilian area in the outskirts of the capital Stepanakert.

Madam Chairperson,

Unfortunately the aggression of the triple alliance is not limited only to the territory of the Republic of Artsakh. In the evening of October 16, the air defense system of the Republic of Armenia has detected Azerbaijani UAVs that have violated the airspace of the Republic of Armenia in the south. This incursion was followed by an attack on military installations of the armed forces of the Republic of Armenia, which Azerbaijan tried to justify by a flimsy excuse of its claims that the equipment was "ready to strike at peaceful settlements in Azerbaijan." As a result of this attack civilians, including children were heavily wounded, civilian infrastructure was also damaged.

Only in one region of the Republic of Armenia since the beginning of aggression the armed forces of Armenia have downed 18 UAVs.

The aggression of the triple alliance against Artsakh and Armenia is accompanied by a campaign of fake news and disinformation regarding the alleged shelling of Azerbaijani settlements by Armenia. The main aim of this disinformation campaign is to cover up the massive shelling of large civilian settlements in Artsakh since the first day of the offensive. On October 16, Azerbaijan disseminated groundless allegations against Armenia claiming that a missile was fired from the territory of Armenia in the direction of the Ordubad region of Nakhichevan. The Defence Ministry of Armenia declared that no missile was fired in the direction of the Ordubad region of Nakhichevan and emphasized that it is yet another lie of the Azerbaijani military-political leadership which aims to expand the geography of the conflict.

On October 17, the Azerbaijani side launched another disinformation campaign claiming that the Armed Forces of Armenia opened a fire towards Gyanja, which both the Defence Army of Artsakh and Armenia’s Ministry of Defence resolutely rejected. Indeed this whole incident needs to be carefully examined, first and foremost, to answer the question what purpose it would have served to target with a rather expensive ballistic missile a residential compound, which did not have any strategic or military importance, when there were many other important and legitimate military targets, which were presented by the Defense Army of Artsakh.

At the same, the Armenian side has presented video and photo materials that indicate that Azerbaijan has been stationing its heavy military hardware in the civilian settlements, using them as a shield.

The allegations of Azerbaijan do not stand any criticism and defy any logic. That is exactly why both Artsakh and Armenia were advocating for the introduction of ceasefire verification mechanisms, that will enable to maintain the ceasefire once it is achieved. Alas, this idea, as many other proposals before, were rejected by Azerbaijan. This is not the first time we have talked about this. If there are any allegations against Armenia or Artsakh, we believe that it is the very time to introduce these verification mechanisms. There have been many proposals to this end. It should have been done a long time ago, but up until today it has been rejected by Azerbaijan. The following video reveals facts on the fake propaganda of the Azerbaijani side. https://twitter.com/ArmenianUnified/status/1317469956334931973?s=20

Dear colleagues,

We have been presenting facts about Turkish involvement, as well as of the use of Turkish air forces in the aerial attacks against the cities and population of Artsakh and Armenia. After the last FSC meeting some open sources revealed more details about the aggression of the triple alliance, which was obviously provoked by Turkey's military-political leadership. For two consecutive days now the air defence units of the Defense Army of Artsakh shoot down Turkish-made Bayraktar combat drones, which are operated by the Turkish experts. Ankara actively pushes, instigates Baku to continue the military operations, providing in return a comprehensive political, diplomatic and intelligence assistance.

Our delegation has previously raised its concern over the latest Turkish-Azerbaijani military exercises held in July-August, pointing that a large number of contingents of the Turkish armed forces remained stationed on the territory of Azerbaijan to coordinate and lead the offensives against Armenia and Artsakh. In particular, we have informed that Turkish F16 fighter jets, which remained stationed in Gyanja airport, prior to September 27 aggression carried out reconnaissance missions, and since September 27 they carried out combat missions in support of Azerbaijani attacks both in the air and on the ground. Even though Azerbaijani delegation denied this fact, the evidence that surfaced at a later stage confirmed Armenia’s assertions in this regard, and the President Aliyev himself was forced to acknowledge the presence of Turkish F-16 fighter jets in Azerbaijan. It took a little bit less than 3 weeks to prove Azerbaijani lies and more are yet to come.

The open sources confirm that the troops that remained in Azerbaijan had included 600 troops comprised of a tactical unit of 200 soldiers and 50 commanders stationed in Nakhichevan, 90 military advisors in Azerbaijan's capital Baku, a 120-strong flight-tactical team at the Gabala airbase, as well as 20 drone operators at Dollyar airport, 50 commanders at Yevlakh airport, 50 commanders in the 4th Army Corps and 20 people at the Naval Base and the Military Institute of Baku.

This group had also 18 armoured vehicles, 1 multiple launch rocket system, 10 military vehicles, 6 air jets, 8 helicopters and up to 25 UAVs, which were carrying out the air reconnaissance mission both in Artsakh and on the territory of Armenia.

In addition, since the beginning of the aggression there has been a sharp increase in the flights of Turkish military-transport airplanes as well as arms transfer to Azerbaijan. The figures compiled by the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly, which groups more than 95,000 exporting companies in 61 sectors, show Azerbaijan bought $123 million military equipment from Turkey in the first nine months of 2020. Moreover, the sales jumped from around $280.000 in the month of July to $36 million in the month of August, and $77.1 million in just September, when the data was published. For comparison, the military sales to Azerbaijan in the first nine months of 2019 were only $20.7 million.

The Turkish made Bayraktar UAVs, which are operated by the Turkish specialists, actively engaged in the war crimes in Nagorno Karabakh. On October 18 and 19 the air defense forces of Nagorno-Karabakh hit two of these UAVs, which were operating near the civilian settlements. The very fact that the Turkish made UAVs are carrying out combat missions over the civilian areas illustrate the criminal nature of these two states.

In addition to Turkish supplies Azerbaijan itself is engaged in smuggling of large amounts of armaments and foreign terrorist fighters. The Azerbaijani civilian and cargo airlines operate daily flights to military airbases of different countries: most recently on October 16 the Azeri cargo plane carried out a flight from Baku to Afghanistan’s Bagram Airfield, then on October 17 from Bagram Airfield to Lashkar Gah airport and back to Baku, Azerbaijan. Most of these flights are not recorded in the list of international flights and some airports are not even listed internationally.

Madame Chairperson,

In addition to the arms sales, Turkey continues to supply Azerbaijan with foreign terrorist fighters and jihadists. Various reports as well as activists, including from Europe and the Middle East have documented further transfers of foreign terrorist fighters from Syria to Azerbaijan by the Turkish government. The recent batch has over 400 fighters from various groups under the control of Turkey. The Armenian sides cannot assess properly the number of fatalities among FTFs and jihadists. At the same time, according to some sources, 27 Syrian fighters were killed in the last 48 hours only, bringing the total death toll among the Turkish-backed terrorist groups since the Turkish government sent them to the frontlines, to at least 161 dead. Remains of 92 fighters were brought to Syria while the rest of bodies remained in Azerbaijan.

In conclusion, we would like to reiterate our call on 54 OSCE participating States to continue exerting pressure on Turkey to withdraw its military personnel from the South Caucasus, together with its affiliated terrorist groups, as well as halt its bellicose rhetoric that incites Azerbaijan to insist on a military solution of the conflict and hence the continuation of military hostilities. The actions of Turkey, both in the wider region and in the South Caucasus are aimed only at aggravating the situation on the ground, which causes further losses of human lives.

Thank you.

MFA RA
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