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A hybrid seminar on “Addressing the War Crimes against Azerbaijan” was held at the AIR Center

2022-10-19 17:55

On October 19, a hybrid seminar on "Addressing the war crimes against Azerbaijan" was organized by the Center of Analysis of International Relations.

The speakers were Farid Shafiyev, the AIR Center Chairman; Chingiz Asgarov, the Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Azerbaijan; Tofig Musayev, Deputy Permanent Representative, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at Permanent Mission of Azerbaijan to the United Nations as well as a researcher at the Henry Jackson Society and Ukrainian political scientist, Taras Kuzio, who participated at the event online.

Farid Shafiyev talked about serious crimes that have been committed by Armenia against Azerbaijan in 30 year and the clashes that still occur after the war. It was noted that during the 44-day Karabakh war, Armenia carried out artillery strikes on the regions far from the conflict zone like Ganja city, despite the fact that there was no military infrastructure in these areas. It was pointed out that the main reason for this was to scare the civilian population and force them to leave those areas.

Chingiz Asgarov, Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Azerbaijan pointed out that based on the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights, it was found that Armenia not only brutally violated the rights of Azerbaijani citizens during 30 years of occupation but also carried out illegal settlement policy on the occupied territories.

He also mentioned that more than 300,000 mines and unexploded military ammunition was found in the liberated areas and that the accuracy of the mine maps presented by Armenia to Azerbaijan is 20-30 percent. The Deputy Chairman specified that "the mines were discovered among the monuments in Fuzuli. Armenia buried mines while withdrawing its armed forces from these areas. Armenia should be held responsible for the victims of landmines".  

Taras Kuzio, a Ukrainian political scientist, and research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, who participated at the event online, noted that the war crimes committed by Armenia against Azerbaijan are not given enough attention. “Azerbaijan is mostly seen as the perpetrator, and Armenia as the victim. Few people in Western countries know about the fact that nearly four thousand Azerbaijani citizens are missing from First Karabakh war”.

"Western countries immediately react to the war crimes happening in Ukraine. However, they stay ignorant to the ones that were perpetrated in a Muslim country, Azerbaijan. Both during the First Karabakh War and the 44-day Karabakh War, violations of international law took place," said T. Kuzio.

Deputy Permanent Representative, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at Permanent Mission of Azerbaijan to the United Nations, Tofig Musayev said that the civilian population of Azerbaijan was subjected to war crimes by Armenia. He noted that Armenia committed these crimes to achieve its military goals, as a result of which many soldiers, children, and women were killed.

By that, T. Musayev also noted that Armenians targeted civilian population during the war. Rocket attacks on regions and cities led to the death of civilians. He pointed out that Armenia has violated international law considering their mistreatment of the prisoners of war.

The event continued with additional questions and discussions.