Report of Center for Analysis of International Relations on Mercenaries in Armenian Army

Baku / 04.12.20 / Turan: During the Second Karabakh War (September 27 - November 9, 2020), Armenian and other politicians and media disseminated information about “thousands of Syrian, Turkish and other mercenaries” fighting for Azerbaijan in Karabakh. Fake photos and texts were published about the “transfer routes” and the number of “terrorists”. 44 days later, when the Armenian army was defeated, some parliaments and international organizations called on Azerbaijan to "withdraw the terrorists."

At the same time, French parliamentarians, Russian journalists and other “friends of Armenia” do not mention the repeated calls of the government and the Prime Minister of Armenia to foreigners to go to the Karabakh front. In Yerevan, they say that the foreigners of Armenian origin who voluntarily fight in Karabakh are not mercenaries.

The Azerbaijan Center for Analysis of International Relations (CAIR) has prepared an analytical report in which, along with numerous officially confirmed facts of mass participation of foreigners in the Karabakh war on the side of Armenia. The report: “The use of mercenaries and foreign fighters by Armenia against Azerbaijan” assesses the legal framework governing such actions.

The use of foreign mercenaries in the war against Azerbaijan was actively practiced during the first Karabakh war (1988-1994). The most vivid example: the California-born international terrorist Monte Melkonyan, who was killed in Karabakh, has been elevated to the status of the national hero of Armenia.

There are several international acts that define and condemn the participation of foreigners in foreign wars. According to Article 47 of Additional Protocol I of 1977 to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, a mercenary is a foreigner recruited for war, who is motivated mainly by a desire for personal gain. That is, the involvement of foreign Armenians in the Karabakh war without material reward does not exclude the accusation of mercenary activity.

The definition of a mercenary in the 1989 International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries states that mercenaries may not be recruited, used, financed or trained.

The UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2178 (2014), on the regulatory framework for foreign terrorist fighters, defined as “persons who travel to a state other than their country of residence or nationality for the purpose of committing, planning, preparing for or participating in terrorist acts, or to train terrorists or undergo such training, including in connection with an armed conflict."

Azerbaijan became a party to the Convention by ratifying it on December 4, 1997. On October 27, 2020, the National Assembly of Armenia also ratified this Convention.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stressed that Armenia actively used foreign mercenaries, and that Azerbaijan has numerous photo and video documents, as well as passports of foreign citizens, in particular France, the USA, Lebanon, Canada, Georgia and others, to prove this. “Some of these citizens are of Armenian origin, some are not. But this does not change the essence of the issue. "

According to Azerbaijani law enforcement agencies, citizens of Australia, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, France, Greece, India, Jordan, Lebanon, Mexico, the Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine and the United States trained in Armenia to participate in the war in Karabakh.

On September 28, President of the Union of Armenians of Russia Ara Abrahamyan announced that 20,000 Russian Armenians were going to go to Armenia and fight in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

On September 29, Russian Armenians, including some members of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun party, flew from Sochi to Yerevan to participate as volunteers in the hostilities.

On September 30, 8,000 Armenians from the Samtskhe-Javakheti region of Georgia, along with 120 tons of humanitarian aid collected by the Armenian diaspora, went to Armenia to volunteer for the war.

There are facts of involving Iranian citizens in the war against Azerbaijan.

The Greek City Times covered the participation in the war of Greek citizens of Armenian origin who moved to Greece 28 years ago. The source, who wished to remain anonymous, but was well informed about the situation, stated that he personally knew “30–35 Armenian Greeks” and “15–20 ethnic Greeks” who were ready to go to fight in the internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan.

According to France 24 and Novaya Gazeta, several men with French citizenship took an active part in the hostilities against Azerbaijan.

At a briefing on October 30, 2020, the Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan Kamran Aliyev said that among the foreigners who participated in the war on the side of the Armenian Armed Forces were citizens: France, the USA, Greece, Georgia, Lebanon, Syria, Belarus, etc.

On these facts, criminal cases were initiated under the relevant articles of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan, and requests were sent to the listed countries within the framework of agreements on mutual assistance in the legal sphere.

Armenia and its diaspora have been involved in the recruitment, use, financing and training of mercenaries and foreign fighters, both locally and abroad, in order to undermine the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. This is a gross violation of international humanitarian law, a violation of human rights and international refugee law, the report notes. -0-