Open letter from Tahir Taghizade, Ambassador of Azerbaijan in the UK on Armenia’s heinous attacks against civilian population of Azerbaijan
These days, unfortunately, the world is used to receiving news on bloodshed and atrocities committed by Armenia against my country. Yet what we see today is striking even by those standards.
Armenia’s attacks on cities of Ganja on October 11 and October 17 with SCUD missiles and Berde on October 27 with SMERCH missiles left behind 19 killed, including children. Today, on October 28, Armenia topped that with a hit to centre of Berde city with SMERCH missiles again, killing at least 21 and injuring more than 60.
Armenia’s deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on civilian population of Azerbaijan with prohibited weaponry are blatant violation of international humanitarian law, including Geneva Conventions and without doubt constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Perhaps, this is what the Prime Minister of Armenia had in mind when he said that the conflict had “no diplomatic solution”. It is probably not a coincidence that these attacks became even violent and deadlier after Armenia’s Defence Minister Davit Tonoyan visited and personally took over the operations in Nagorno Karabakh.
These are the continuation of the genocide by Armenia against Azerbaijanis which started back in 1992 in Khojaly where 613 civilians, including old men, women and children, were massacred in one of late 20th century’s most brutal and horrific attacks.
Many journalists and experts writing on the issue have been recently concerned that the conflict may grow larger. This is exactly what Armenia is trying to do by massacring innocent Azerbaijani civilians.
There is simply no more ground for alleviating the accusations against the barbarians using phraseology like “accusations”, “allegations” or “claims” while reporting on this. There are photos, videos, reports and facts proving that these attacks are planned and implemented by and from Armenia proper against Azerbaijani civilians. No action is too low for Armenia to achieve what it sees as a win-win situation for itself: either to cause a discord inside Azerbaijan with regard to liberation of occupied territories or to force Azerbaijan to counter-strike to drag CSTO into the conflict.
In the post-1945 world of international norms and PRINCIPLES, these attacks once more testify to the fact that Armenia is not interested in a political solution and resorts to every violation of international law to keep the occupation of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territories.
The political-military leadership of Armenia bears full moral and legal responsibility for all these attacks and all possible consequences that they will entail.
International community should finally break their silence and condemn in the most serious accounts Armenia’s war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated against civilian Azerbaijani population. The world community must also show the necessary will for the resolution of this conflict by urging Armenia to uphold the international law and implement the UN Security Council resolutions adopted on this conflict which demand immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian occupying forces from occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
