Statement by Ambassador Andranik Hovhannisyan on the aggression of Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh delivered at the 45th Human Rights Council, on 28 September 2020, in Geneva

Mme. Vice-President,

Early Sunday morning, yesterday Azerbaijan launched large-scale military offensive against Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic), accompanied by air and artillery strikes, targeting the civilian population and infrastructure in around 50 towns and villages. A woman and a child were killed and many other civilians wounded.

This brutal attack came days after the maximalist statements by President of Azerbaijan at the UN GA claiming that “Karabakh is Azerbaijan.” Days before that he stated that “we will by all means return to our lands” claiming that “present-day Armenia was established on historically Azerbaijani lands”. He went on to stress that the “negotiations are virtually non-existent.”

Moreover, days before the aggression Azerbaijan started drafting reservists and confiscating civilian trucks for military needs. It also refused to accept the OSCE monitoring of the situation in the conflict zone. Azerbaijan was carrying out military drills making provocative flights of military aircrafts and UAVs. The spokesperson of the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan has threatened to launch a missile strike against Armenia’s nuclear power plant. There have been credible reports about recruiting terrorists to fight against Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan continually demonstrated dismissive attitude to international organizations and international law, stating at the highest levels that “international law does not work in the world today, and international treaties are just a piece of paper, having no value.” Thus, Azerbaijan has been openly and blatantly preparing for the aggression.

Mme. Vice-President,

Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh do not have any reason to go to war. In the stark contrast to the leadership of Azerbaijan, the Prime Minister of Armenia at the UN General Assembly reaffirmed “commitment to exclusively peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict”.

Mme. Vice-President,

As the whole world has been joining forces to counter the pandemic, Azerbaijan has tried to make use of it in the context of its political problems.

First, Azerbaijan strengthened its grip over any dissent to the ruling regime. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe rapporteurs for the monitoring of Azerbaijan have expressed their concern “at the crackdown on critics of the authorities under the guise of combating the pandemic, as well as the safety of prisoners convicted in unfair trials and considered as political prisoners”.

Second, despite the call of the UN SG for the global ceasefire in times of pandemic Baku has blatantly violated the ceasefire signed in 1994 between Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia. Azerbaijan does this to achieve rally around the flag effect and to shift the public attention from its despotic ruling.

It is worrisome that Turkey extends military and political support to Azerbaijan, thus contributing to further destabilization of the region.

This new aggression of Azerbaijan poses existential threat for the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, since Azerbaijan has demonstrated time and again its intent to ethnically cleanse that territory from Armenians. The State level anti-Armenian xenophobia in Azerbaijan have been well reported by international organizations, including by CERD and ECRI of the Council of Europe.

It is noteworthy that the identity-based crimes against Armenians by Azerbaijan have been recognized recently by the European Court of Human Rights on two different cases: one on the brutal peacetime killing of a sleeping Armenian and another ruling on the torture and subsequent killing of an Armenian detainee in Azerbaijan.

Thank you.