Statement by Ambassador Armen Papikyan on "The aggression of Azerbaijan against Artsakh and Armenia with the direct involvement of Turkey and foreign terrorist fighters"

21 January, 2021

Madame Chairperson,

For the last three and a half months the Armenian Delegation has been consistently raising the issue of the war unleashed on September 27 by Azerbaijan against Artsakh and its people with the unreserved political support and direct military involvement of Turkey and Turkish-sponsored foreign terrorist fighters.

Throughout 44 days of that aggression, unprecedented in terms of scale and violence, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries at the level of respective Presidents and Foreign Ministers made several attempts to cease the military hostilities, which failed due to the almost immediate violation by Azerbaijan of the agreements reached. In the end the ceasefire was established with the adoption on November 9 of a trilateral statement agreed through the mediation of the President of Russian Federation.

However, today Armenian delegation raises this current issue to share deep concerns about the situation in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) in the aftermath of the war and in particular about continued violation by Azerbaijan of the provisions of the trilateral statement. Unlike Armenia, which implements its part of provisions of the statement, almost all paragraphs that required an action on the part of Azerbaijan so far either have been violated or remained on paper.

Notably, the first provision of the statement holds that “a complete ceasefire and termination of all hostilities in the area of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is hereby declared” and that the parties “shall stop at their current positions”. Yet, more than a month into the ceasefire, Azerbaijan launched military operations in the direction of Hin Tagher and Khetsaberd, the two villages of the Hadrut region that remained under Armenian control. On 11 December 2020, the special forces of Azerbaijan launched an attack in this area in an attempt to wipe out these villages of their ethnic Armenian inhabitants, so that the entire region of Hadrut would come under Azerbaijan’s de facto control.

As a result of this unprovoked aggression, Azerbaijan captured 64 Armenian servicemen, in violation of its ceasefire obligations under the trilateral statement. In an attempt to justify its actions in Hadrut, Azerbaijan is now, again attempting to shift the blame on Armenia by invoking groundless narrative of a fake “anti-terror operation” and an alleged sabotage group deployed by Armenia and portraying the Armenian prisoners of war as “terrorists”.

Moreover, the President of Azerbaijan in his statements delivered on December 31, 2020 and January 7, 2021, while presenting the Armenian prisoners of war as “terrorists”, ordered the initiation of a prosecution process. This is a flagrant violation of the international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions. Furthermore, this is a violation of paragraph 8 of the trilateral statement of November 9, which unequivocally stipulates that the side should exchange prisoners of war, hostages and other detainees, as well as the remains of the fallen soldiers.

Madame Chairperson,

The immediate release and return of prisoners of war and hostages must be viewed exclusively in the context of human rights and international humanitarian law, as well as in the context of the full implementation of the trilateral statement on ceasefire. Undue delays in the release of PoWs is prohibited under the international humanitarian law, which provides that the return of prisoners of war should be ensured immediately after the cessation of hostilities. The Third Geneva Convention of 1949 stipulates that prisoners of war cannot be prosecuted or detained for taking part in hostilities. This is a universal norm of international law, and its application is not conditioned by its inclusion in specific conflict resolution instruments. Therefore, politicizing or using this issue for political purposes is unacceptable and detrimental to the peace process.

The initiation of criminal proceedings against the Armenian servicemen held captive by Azerbaijan is legally unfounded, and it is obvious that their detention and their labelling as "terrorists'' puts their lives at risk. Our concerns are well founded, since in the past we have had several cases when Armenian captives were subjected to torture and cruelty, even killed while in captivity. We have also seen the cases of physical and psychological abuse of PoWs during the Azerbaijani-Turkish aggression as well. There have also been some reports in the open sources that the Armenian prisoners of war and civilian hostages are under the risk of becoming victims of organ trafficking.

For the last two months numerous video footages appeared on social networks and were widely disseminated showing executions, torture, degrading, cruel and inhuman treatment of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani side, whereas prohibition of torture “is a peremptory norm of international law without territorial limitation, which applies at all times and in all places”. This was clearly reflected in the Tirana Ministerial Council Decision of 4 December 2020, adopted with the agreement of all participating States, including Azerbaijan.

Beheadings, beatings, humiliations inflicted by Azerbaijani military personnel upon Armenian captives are clear indications of the policy of consistent ethnic cleansing, including through intimidation and terror campaigns against Armenians people of Artsakh, pursued by Azerbaijan.

The cruel treatment and execution of two Armenians in the town of Hadrut by the Azerbaijani military has already been described by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights as a possible war crime. Armenia lodged a number of applications before the European Court of Human Rights in this regard. The last case concerned the Armenian PoW, who was identified by his parents in the video footage, but days ago was found dead in Hadrut region, while the forensic evidence showed that he was killed a couple of days prior to that.

We are extremely concerned with this situation, since we believe that the wide-spread nature of the cases of degrading and inhuman treatment of Armenian captives unequivocally indicates that this is a behaviour sanctioned at least by the army leadership.

Madame Chairperson,

Besides the prisoners of war, Azerbaijan holds captive civilians as well. According to our estimates, there are 22 civilian captives, including women, who are taken hostage by Azerbaijani side.

Azerbaijan’s unconstructive and highly politicized stance in this purely humanitarian issue further illustrates the lack of goodwill and its true intentions. These actions clearly and undeniably indicate and give us reason to believe that the Armenian PoWs, as well as civilian captives will be held as hostages to be used to pressure Artsakh and Armenia.

We call on Azerbaijan to comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law and the OSCE commitments, to stop torture and other degrading and inhuman treatment of Armenian PoWs and other captives, and to release all Armenian captives immediately and unconditionally.

Armenia condemns the detrimental practice of threats, blackmail, hostage-taking and attempts to instrumentalize the issue of prisoners of war and to use human lives to get concessions in the context of conflict-related issues, something that Azerbaijan is cynically promoting by turning a humanitarian issue into a bargaining tool.

Madame Chairperson,

Words that are not followed by deeds are empty sounds. We have heard here in the Permanent council assurances from the Azerbaijani delegation about their commitment to peace and security in the region. So far, Azerbaijani actions indicate the opposite. Indeed, Azerbaijan’s agenda is hidden in plain sight for anyone to see. While talking about peace and security in the region, Azerbaijan has consistently been challenging the consolidated position of the international community, in particular, the position of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.

We have lost count of the number of times when Azerbaijan, in violation of its commitments - both old and new - under international law and signed agreements used force against Artsakh and Armenia. And we do not see any signs that this pattern of behaviour of Azerbaijan and its leadership is going to be changed. Moreover, the unabated anti-Armenian rhetoric evident in the statements of Azerbaijani leadership comes to confirm that Armenophobic policy of Azerbaijani government has not changed.

In conclusion, Madame Chairperson, I would like to draw the attention of the Permanent Council to and raise our deep concerns about joint Turkish-Azerbaijani military exercise to be held in Kars, some 50 kilometres away from the Armenian border. According to the publicly available information this unnotified military exercises will take place from 1 to 12 February and will involve tank divisions, heavy artillery, sniper teams, helicopters and special forces. This is reminiscent of other unnotified large-scale exercises conducted by Turkey and Azerbaijan in close proximity to Armenian borders, the last one being in July-August, almost immediately after the July flare up on the Armenia’s state border and before the war against Artsakh.

Turkey and its client state Azerbaijan through their actions and public statements aim to keep the high tensions in the region. We have been warning that the Turkish-Azerbaijani tandem, if not stopped, will destabilise the region. And these are the true intentions of these two states, despite verbal assurances and statements of the leaders of both Turkey and Azerbaijan about the need to build trust and good neighbourly relations. Conducting military exercises with an obvious offensive intent, immediately after 44 days of violent war and in the midst of an extremely fragile ceasefire, does not fit into the pronounced intentions or declared readiness by high-ranking officials of Turkey and Azerbaijan to achieve sustainable and lasting peace in the region.

Lasting and sustainable peace in the region could be achieved only through a comprehensive resolution of the conflict, including resolving the issue of the status of Artsakh based on the realization of the right of its people to self-determination, ensuring the safe and dignified return of the displaced population to their homes and preserving the cultural and religious heritage of the region.

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