Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of the Republic of Azerbaijan sent an Open Letter to the Amnesty International

As we all know, in such a sensitive period for Azerbaijan, on October 5, the Amnesty International released on its own official website the information, which demonstrates biased, discriminative and partisan approaches and double standards. 

Ombudsman of Azerbaijan, Ms. Sabina Aliyeva calls to rely on the norms and principles of international law, documents of international organizations, as well as the UNSC Res. #822, #853, #874 and #884 on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, recognizing and condemning the fact of occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts, also directly demanding the unconditional withdrawal of the occupying forces from all the occupied territories, as well as on the principles of territorial integrity, inviolability of state borders and respect for sovereignty under the international law prior to proceeding any statement concerning Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Recalling the rules of international humanitarian law based on the protection of civilians and facilities during military conflicts, this was stated in the Letter that Armenia has violated these provisions by expelling ethnic Azerbaijani civilians from their homelands and attacking civilians and dwellings.

The Commissioner underlined the fact that Armenia has been exercising the control of the occupied territories for almost 30 years, causing more than a million people to live as refugees and internally displaced persons. Throughout those years, Armenia continues committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide, as such. 

The Letter concludes providing the information by the Ombudsman about Armenian intensive missile attacks on civilians and civilian objects in various cities of the country, including Ganja, Beylagan, Tartar, Yevlakh, also Horadiz city of Fuzuli district that has been started  since September 27, 2020, as well as on rocket attacks on Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) Main Export Oil Pipeline launched on October 7, 2020, leading to a serious danger to the energy security not only of the entire region, but also of the Europe.     

In the Letter it was also highlighted the submission by the Commissioner of various statements addressed to international organizations on the violated rights of the civilian population as a result of attacks, as well as fact-finding missions were carried out and reports were prepared and sent based on the evidence gathered.

Finally, given the counter-offensive operations of Azerbaijan launched for the restoration of its territorial integrity,  the Ombudsman calls on the world community to demand from Armenia to put an end to this occupation, which grossly violated the UN Resolutions, and the return of refugees and internally displaced persons who were forced to leave their homelands. The call was made on the international NGO to be impartial and to avoid double standards while preparing reports about the conflict.