The Ombudsman of Azerbaijan has sent letters to international organizations concerning the recruitment of terrorist groups and mercenaries by Armenia

The Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ms. Sabina Aliyeva officially requested international organizations with regard to the war crimes committed by Armenia against Azerbaijan by committing ethnic cleansing and providing illegal settlement policies by the Armenian military and political leadership, also recruiting of terrorist groups and mercenaries during hostilities.

In the official correspondence the facts of ethnic cleansing and illegal settlement policies by Armenia through settling the ethnic Armenians from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and other countries to the occupied territories in order to artificially increase the number of Armenian population there and thereby, alter the demographic situation.

In the letter, this was also stated that Armenia has severely violated the norms and principles of international law, including the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their protocols, the Hague Conventions, as well as other international obligations, along with provisions of its own domestic legislation. In the Ombudsman's letter, it was also stressed that although Armenia has ratified the UN Convention on the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries, on October 27, 2020, making a political maneuver, it has recruited mercenaries to take part in active hostilities, by demonstrating obvious indifference and disrespect for the Convention concerned. At the same time, the other pieces of evidence of involvement by Armenia of various terrorist groups and mercenaries in military operations have been brought to the attention of the addresses.

The Ombudsman called relevant international organizations to investigate the patterns of serious violations of the norms and principles of international law by Armenia through carrying out ethnic cleansing and illegal settlement policies, also recruiting mercenaries and terrorist groups in hostilities, as well as to take measures defining framework for international legal responsibility for those crimes.