The political parties of Azerbaijan called on the UN Secretary General to ensure the withdrawal of the occupation forces of Armenia

Baku/11.10.20/Turan: Political parties of Azerbaijan sent an appeal to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in which they called for the implementation of resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 adopted by the UN security Council in 1993 on the conflict, on the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the territory of Azerbaijan:

To UN Secretary-General António Guterres,

We, the leaders of political parties and public movements operating in Azerbaijan, condemn the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and 7 surrounding districts of Azerbaijan by the Armenian armed forces for more than 27 years and present our joint position to your attention.

1. The ceasefire agreement, which has been in force since 1994, has been repeatedly violated by the Armenian armed forces, and Armenia has been at war with Azerbaijan since September 27, 2020.

2. In the last war, the Armenian armed forces used 9N235 and M85 bomblets, which were included in the class of explosive weapons prohibited in 2008 in accordance with the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), against the civilian population of Azerbaijan.

3. As a result of heavy artillery fires and missile strikes fired by the Armenian armed forces from September 27 to October 11 on the settlements of Azerbaijan outside the conflict and war zone, 41 civilians were killed, 205 were wounded, 146 civilian objects and 1,165 houses were destroyed.

4. The Armenian armed forces are violating the trilateral humanitarian ceasefire agreement signed by Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan in Moscow on October 10, 2020. As a result of a missile strike on apartment buildings outside the frontline zone on October 1, 2020, at 2 o'clock at night, 9 people, including 4 women, were killed and 31 people, including 15 women and 6 children, were wounded.

5. Video footage of the Armenian armed forces on committing criminal acts with insulting actions on the bodies of murdered Azerbaijani martyrs is being shared on social networks, which is a violation of Articles 16 and 17 of the 1st Geneva Convention. There are serious problems in identifying the murdered servicemen and handing them over to Azerbaijan.

6. Armenia is violating the requirements of the Geneva Convention for the Protection of War Victims dated August 12, 1949, Resolution on missing persons adopted by the 58th session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, as well as Resolution on the release of women and children taken hostage, including those subsequently imprisoned, in armed conflicts.

7. The Armenian armed forces are systematically and inhumanely violating the human rights and freedoms of Azerbaijani citizens recognized by international law. According to the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action of the UN General Assembly (1993), the violation of women’s human rights in the context of armed conflict must be assessed as a violation of fundamental principles of international law and the most serious measures must be taken for such acts. This position was reflected in the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women of the UN General Assembly and the 1995 Beijing Declaration.

8. The Armenian armed forces are targeting Azerbaijan’s energy infrastructure and pipelines of international importance. Such that they pose a threat to the Mingachevir hydroelectric power plant with a large water reservoir and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline and the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline directed to Europe. The threat posed by Armenia poses serious risks to Europe’s energy security.

Therefore, we ask you to implement Resolutions 822, 853, 874, and 884 adopted by the UN Security Council in 1993, demanding the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the territory of Azerbaijan, and ask you to unconditionally withdraw the Armenian occupying forces from the territory of Azerbaijan.

As a result of the non-implementation of these resolutions, there are 1 million IDPs in Azerbaijan, and most of them are women and children whose rights have been violated.

Sincerely,

Free Democrats Party, Chairman Sulhaddin Akbar

Azerbaijan Justice Party, Chairman, Professor Ilyas Ismayilov

Azerbaijan Democracy and Welfare Movement, Chairman, Professor Gubad Ibadoglu

People's Party of Azerbaijan, Chairman, former Prime Minister Panah Huseyn

Azerbaijan Rise Party, Chairman Anar Asadli

Law and Justice Party, Chairman, Professor Ali Insanov

Nationalist Democrats Party, Chairman Ilyas Abdullayev

Real Party, Secretary-General Natig Jafarli

Umid (Hope) Party, Chairman Igbal Aghazade

National Unity Party of Azerbaijan, Chairman, Professor Hajibaba Azimov

Citizen and Development Party, Chairman Dr. Ali Aliyev

FAR-Centre, Chairman, former ambassador, Dr. Hikmat Hajizade

East-West Research Center, Chairman Arastun Orujlu

Security expert, Ilham Ismail. -0-