Humanitarian side of the Karabakh conflict

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- Are the requirements of international law and norms, as well as international conventions protected during the current military confrontation between Azerbaijan and Armenia?

- In general, it is very difficult to defend the requirements of international law, norms and conventions during military conflicts. As in the war between Azerbaijan and Armenia, in other modern wars it is always difficult to follow these rules. For this, both sides make different statements, so that at least the civilian population is away from the combat zone. In particular, the Azerbaijani side has taken a number of steps to pay more attention to this issue, and Baku's use of more modern and accurate weapons, including a more professional and disciplined army, creates even more conditions.

Both the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan have warned natives of Armenia in Karabakh, as well as journalists and citizens of other countries, to refrain from visiting Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding areas. A few days ago, the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan noted that the International Red Cross Society presented and trained the personnel of the Azerbaijani army through the brochures on the protection of civilians and objects handed over to them.

Of course, this initiative in itself is a very good step, even if we are not sure how we will comply with these rules during the battles in this territory. In addition, in some places, the Azerbaijani army surrounded a certain number of soldiers and officers of the Armenian army, they were promised, if they surrender, to treat them within the framework and in accordance with the requirements of international conventions.

Similarly, the Armenian side appealed to the citizens of Azerbaijan with an appeal to stay away from the war zones. However, non-military infrastructure in Tertar, Goranboy, Ganja, Mingachevir, Yevlakh, Shamkir, Beylagan, Fizuli and other cities and their villages was seriously damaged because of shelling from heavy guns and artillery by Armenia to cities and villages outside Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied zones. Dozens of people were killed and injured; houses were destroyed. Unfortunately, the Minister of Defense of Armenia also openly stated that we are doing this in order to cause panic among the Azerbaijani population.

-Which country, and in what form violates international law and norms more?

- Firstly, the military units in Karabakh, which are protected by Armenia, as well as the military actions against the Azerbaijani army in its sovereign territories recognized by international law, violate the provisions of international law, norms and the Convention. From the wars of the 90s to the present, these situations continue to repeat themselves in the course of all confrontations and in various forms.

 In addition, since the beginning of the last war on September 27, if you look at data from three sources - articles, records and statistics of Azerbaijani, Armenian and international journalists, observations show that international laws and norms are mainly violated by Armenia. This can be seen in behavior both against civilians and military personnel and against objects.

-There are enough facts about the shelling of civilians, about the attitude towards prisoners, about shooting at places outside the conflict zone. Who is responsible for all this?

- As I said, the political and military persons who directly gave the orders are responsible for these war crimes. At the same time, participants and their leaders are also responsible for behavior that is shown outside the law with prisoners, for offensive, degrading actions of the individual, for various acts of violence against them. Because international humanitarian law includes the protection of non-military targets and actors.

In some cases, we are witnessing the use of non-military facilities for military purposes. For example, the storage of military weapons in densely populated areas or the organization of offensive operations ... Another example is that in the last war, journalists wore military uniforms and were equipped with weapons. This is mainly seen in the videos of local journalists from Armenia. In fact, this situation puts these journalists in the category of military objects, and their rights are no longer included in the list of other civilian and protected objects.

-There are facts that the shells fired at Ganja, Mingechevir and other Azerbaijani territories outside the conflict zone were fired from the territory of Armenia. What does Armenia want to do by consciously taking these steps? What is its purpose?

-The main goal of these attacks from the territory of Armenia is clearly to involve third countries in the war in Nagorno-Karabakh. Specifically, Armenia is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization and is interested in Russia's involvement in this war. In this case, as Russian officials say, and according to the organization's charter, Russia cannot provide any military support to Armenia during the Karabakh war directly because the war is not on the territory of Armenia. Of course, illegal weapons were supplied to Armenia from Russia, and this process continues. However, Armenia is not quite satisfied with this. For this reason, the Azerbaijani side adequately responds to attacks on Ganja, Mingachevir and other non-conflict Azerbaijani territories from the territory of Armenia by striking military targets in Nagorno-Karabakh.

It is very likely that the Azerbaijani side fully understands these provocations and, without distraction, will continue to concentrate its military policy on the Armenian forces in Karabakh.

- World countries see these violations. However, in their statements, in the materials of foreign media, for some reason they defend Armenia. What is the reason?

- There are many reasons. Firstly, from the first days of the war, the Armenian side launched a large propaganda campaign. They carry out both official and unofficial campaigns against Azerbaijan. Members of the Armenian lobby living abroad, persons of Armenian origin and structures also play an active role here. For example, the speech of the French President, in which Azerbaijan was initially accused, was actually caused by pressure from the Armenian lobby in France or the support of Macron by the Armenian electorate.

 The second reason is that Azerbaijan has limited resources in this kind of issues. For example, it is difficult to conduct such campaigns with limited Internet access imposed for security reasons. Thirdly, despite the fact that international law in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is on the side of Azerbaijan, nevertheless, it does not coincide with the interests of some countries and organizations. In short, we can say that geopolitical interests are a very serious factor here. Therefore, the Azerbaijani side is taking very serious and thoughtful steps in this matter. The fourth problem stems from Turkey's direct political and diplomatic support for Azerbaijan and the long-term enmity of some Western countries with Turkey. As we can see, from the first days of the war, too much criticism was voiced against Turkey.

The fifth question is that since the beginning of the war, the Armenian side has already created conditions for the representatives of international media to visit this country, as well as Karabakh. In Azerbaijan, we observed the opposite. For almost a week, with the exception of Turkish media, representatives of other foreign countries were not invited. There are many objective and subjective reasons for this. I think that the Azerbaijani side did not invite foreign journalists in view of the negative experience in the April 2016 events. After this issue was raised or resolved, the situation changed, albeit relatively.

-What additional precautions should the Azerbaijani side take to protect international law and norms during military operations?

 - I think that the steps taken by Azerbaijan to protect international law and norms deserve a high assessment. However, as the war continues and the Azerbaijani army moves towards the densely populated regions of Karabakh, work on this issue should be intensified and become more effective. It is also possible to organize some monitoring by the official structures of Azerbaijan.

In fact, this will be an example of the professionalism of the Azerbaijani army, as well as its sensitivity and respect for international law and norms, conventions. Of course, this will further strengthen the legitimate positions of Azerbaijan in the war. According to Azerbaijani officials, this can be viewed as a positive step towards the Armenian population living in Nagorno-Karabakh, since the Azerbaijani side considers them its citizens.