Statement on "The aggression of Azerbaijan against Artsakh and Armenia with the direct involvement of Turkey and foreign terrorist fighters" as delivered by Ambassador Armen Papikyan at the 1348th meeting of the Permanent Council

09 December, 2021

Madam Chairperson,

I must regrettably start my statement by informing the Permanent Council of Azerbaijan’s latest ceasefire violation, which took place last night in the direction of the villages of Verin Shorzha and Kut in the east of the Armenian province of Gegharkunik.

This latest military attack is yet another attempt by the Azerbaijani army, which infiltrated the sovereign territory of Armenia in May this year, to advance further into Armenian sovereign territory and occupy new lands.

This attack came almost immediately after the meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Stockholm, where the Azerbaijani side refused to continue the direct dialogue under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. Furthermore, it was preceded by another belligerent and provocative statement by the Azerbaijani president. The attack is essentially Azerbaijan’s response to the two statements issued on 4 December by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and on 7 December by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries.

I should also like to inform the Permanent Council of other attacks and incidents that have occurred on the line of contact in Artsakh and on the Armenian borders. Since our last discussion of this current issue nearly a month ago, Azerbaijan has continued its provocative and aggressive actions aimed at destabilizing the already extremely fragile security situation in the region, threatening the security and normal life of the peaceful population of Artsakh and residents of the border regions of Armenia.

Thus, on 3 December 2021, Mr. Seyran Sargsyan, a displaced person from the village of Avetaranots in Artsakh, born in 1956, was captured while grazing cattle in the vicinity of the town of Chartar in the Martuni region of Artsakh and subsequently killed by Azerbaijani soldiers. This is yet another case of an outrageous extrajudicial killing of a peaceful civilian by Azerbaijani armed forces in broad daylight.

Mr. Sargsyan is the third civilian to have been murdered by Azerbaijani soldiers in Artsakh in a short period of time. The first was Mr. Aram Tepnants, a farmer from the occupied village of Mataghis, who was killed by sniper fire while working in a field near the town of Martakert in the presence of Russian peacekeepers. The second was 22-year-old Martik Yeremyan, who was killed by Azerbaijani troops while conducting repair work on a water pipeline near the Stepanakert–Shushi highway, with three more civilians being wounded as a result of the attack.

In each of the aforementioned cases, the Azerbaijani authorities have tried to evade responsibility for the committed crimes, putting forward ridiculous and hypocritical explanations of the incidents. The latest case was no exception. The Ministry of Defence of Azerbaijan immediately reported that Mr. Seyran Sargsyan, a 65 year-old shepherd, attacked the Azerbaijani servicemen and was killed. This cynical statement was refuted only after the competent authorities of the Republic of Artsakh presented evidence, including video footage, confirming that Mr. Seyran Sargsyan was abducted and subsequently killed by Azerbaijani soldiers.

The recent violence committed by the Azerbaijani armed forces against the civilian population of Artsakh is a continuation of the consistent and long-standing policy of Azerbaijan aimed at the annihilation and forced deportation of the Armenians of Artsakh and the ethnic cleansing of this territory, which once again proves that guaranteeing the physical security and the right to life of the Armenians of Artsakh is impossible under Azerbaijani jurisdiction.

Another flagrant violation of the ceasefire on the line of contact in Artsakh occurred on 5 December 2021, resulting in the killing of servicemen of the Artsakh Defence Army.

These armed attacks, which are a violation of the trilateral ceasefire statement of 9 November 2020, continue to destabilize the security environment and as a result jeopardize the possibility of the sides resuming dialogue and concentrating on substantial issues.

Dear colleagues,

The Armenian delegation has for some time persistently expressed its concern over the destructive policies of Azerbaijan as the main impediments to the peace and security in the South Caucasus.

The true intentions of the government of Azerbaijan are made clear by its continuous armed provocations and violations of the ceasefire, its obstruction of the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries, and the anti-Armenian, war-mongering and inflammatory rhetoric and claims against the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia that have been coming from Azerbaijan’s highest level political leadership.

These facts stand in stark contrast to the pronouncements of the Azerbaijani delegation in the Permanent Council claiming that Azerbaijani policy is aimed at establishing peace and security in the region. As we have said before, these statements are simply a smoke screen to cover up the aggressive and expansionist intentions of the Azerbaijani government against Artsakh and Armenia.

The Republic of Armenia has constantly condemned the aggression of Azerbaijan against Artsakh and Armenia. We have denounced Azerbaijan’s distorted and twisted interpretation of the provisions of the trilateral statement of 9 November 2020, which is used by the Azerbaijani leadership as a pretext for its expansionist policies. In this context, I wish to draw the distinguished delegations’ attention to the latest detailed statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia in connection with the statements of the President of Azerbaijan, which we distributed on 7 December.

I would like to once again underscore that none of the statements signed between Armenia, Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation, neither the trilateral statement of 9 November 2020, nor the statement of 11 January 2021, nor that of 26 November 2021, contains any provision, reference or language which could be construed as an obligation of the Republic of Armenia or even an agreement by Armenia to provide Azerbaijan with any corridor or a transport link with a corridor logic.

Thus, the demands of Azerbaijan for the provision of a so-called “Zangezur corridor” is nothing but a disguise for Azerbaijan’s territorial claims against Armenia’s southern province of Syunik, which was indeed one of their goals during the First Karabakh War of 1990–1994.

We urge Azerbaijan to abandon its aggressive and destructive policies, to refrain from provocative rhetoric and actions, and not to hinder the implementation of the provisions of the 9 November 2020 statement and subsequent relevant statements regarding the unblocking of all economic and transport communications in the region, especially as this unblocking of communications is calculated to make a significant contribution to the peace and stability of the entire region.

Madam Chairperson,

The issue of the prisoners of war and other illegally detained persons remains one of the main challenges, creating an atmosphere of mistrust and animosity that adversely affects the overall negotiation process. Azerbaijan is deliberately manipulating the issue of the prisoners of war and other hostages in pursuit of certain political goals. The labelling of Armenian prisoners of war as terrorists and the associated mock trials and lengthy prison sentences are clear manifestations of the politicization of a purely humanitarian issue and are violations both of international humanitarian law and of the 9 November statement.

There is ample evidence that Azerbaijan, in blatant disregard of the agreement reached on an “all-for-all” exchange, is illegally detaining more than a hundred Armenian prisoners of war and civilian hostages, including a woman, captured during the 44-days war and in its aftermath, also during and after the military incursion of Azerbaijani armed forces into the territory of the Armenia.

As we have previously informed the Permanent Council, the Republic of Armenia applied to the European Court of Human Rights requesting the application of interim measures to the Armenian prisoners of war, including those captured during the 16 November military incursion.

Azerbaijan has admitted the detention of only 40 Armenians (37 servicemen, 3 civilians), all of whom have been put on trial on fabricated criminal charges. Despite the existence of a large number of video, photo and other pieces of evidence, including evidence posted on the social networks, Azerbaijan is concealing the real number of Armenian prisoners of war and other captives, and the places of their detention. In addition, Azerbaijan is refusing to implement the interim measures of the European Court of Human Rights and failed to provide any information in this regard by the deadline of 6 December 2021 set by the Court.

Armenia is deeply concerned by the refusal by Azerbaijan 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 still await a proper response from the relevant international organizations and partners, including the OSCE.

Madam Chairperson,

We have already informed the Permanent Council about the lawsuit filed by the Republic of Armenia with the International Court of Justice regarding Azerbaijan’s systematic violations of the provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Two days ago, the Court ruled on Armenia’s request for provisional measures. Armenia presented convincing evidence of Azerbaijan’s racially motivated killings and torture of Armenian prisoners of war and other detainees, as well as of its consistent policy of racial hatred towards Armenians and its destruction of Armenian cultural heritage.

The Court found that there is an imminent risk of irreparable harm to the rights of the Armenians under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and ordered Azerbaijan to, I quote:

Protect from violence and bodily harm all persons captured in relation to the 2020 Conflict who remain in detention, and ensure their security and equality before the law;

Take all necessary measures to prevent the incitement and promotion of racial hatred and discrimination, including by its officials and public institutions, targeted at persons of Armenian national or ethnic origin;

Take all necessary measures to prevent and punish acts of vandalism and desecration affecting Armenian cultural heritage, including but not limited to churches and other places of worship, monuments, landmarks, cemeteries and artefacts.

It should be noted that during the oral proceedings on Armenia’s request for provisional measures, the Court took full cognizance of the representation made by the Agent of Azerbaijan during the proceedings to the effect that the mannequins depicting Armenian soldiers and displays of helmets allegedly worn by Armenian soldiers during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War have been permanently removed from the so-called “Military Trophies Park” and will not be shown in the future.

The interpretation, or rather misinterpretation, of the Court’s orders by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan is disappointing. We sincerely hope that the Court’s orders will help Azerbaijan to ultimately comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law and the statement of 9 November 2020.

Madam Chairperson,

The realities created as a result of the use of force by Azerbaijan against Artsakh and its people cannot create a basis for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Azerbaijan’s claims that as a result of the war, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and Nagorno‑Karabakh itself no longer exist in the international arena are also a violation of the 9 November trilateral statement, in which Nagorno-Karabakh is presented as a territorial entity in its own right.

The conditions for ensuring lasting peace and stability in the region can only be created by the full implementation of the trilateral statement of 9 November 2020 particularly with regard to the immediate resolution of urgent humanitarian issues, the unconditional repatriation of all prisoners of war, hostages and other detained persons, the clarification of the fate of missing persons, the investigation of the cases of enforced disappearance, as well as the protection of Armenian cultural and religious heritage and the full resumption of the process of peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

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.

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

Thank you.

MFA RA
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