Illegal occupation of Azerbaijani territory is unacceptable

This article was provided by Mr. Farrukh Jumayev, First Secretary of the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan ― Ed.


Armenian media outlets have reported that an Azerbaijani “saboteur” was captured by its armed forces in the occupied Kelbajar district of Azerbaijan in July 2014.

What actually happened was that three Azerbaijani civilians ― Dilgam Askerov, Shahbaz Guliyev and Hasan Hasanov, all of whom are originally from districts occupied by Armenia ― were stopped by Armenian soldiers while visiting the village of Shaplar in Kelbajar, Askerov’s hometown.

Hasanov was murdered. Then, Armenia refused to return his body to his relatives. Following demands by Azerbaijan, the International Committee of the Red Cross started talks with the Armenian side to return Hasanov’s body to his relatives with no results yet. The exact whereabouts of Dilgam Askerov and Shahbaz Guliyev remain unknown.


Where is Kelbajar

Kelbajar is one of the seven districts adjacent to the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast that Armenia has been illegally occupying since 1993.

After the occupation began, the international community repeatedly expressed serious doubts over Armenia’s claims of noninvolvement in the conflict. This invasion prompted the U.N. Security Council to adopt Resolution 822. In it, the UNSC reaffirmed Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and demanded the immediate withdrawal of all occupying forces from the Kelbajar district and other recently occupied areas of Azerbaijan, and expressed grave concern over the displacement of civilians. Armenia has failed to comply with this and the other UNSC resolutions.


Innocent civilians are not ‘saboteurs’

Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian claimed that the detained Azerbaijani civilians were “saboteurs” and “criminals,” and cannot be considered prisoners of war.

This statement by a high-ranking Armenian official is yet another example of Armenia’s direct military involvement in the conflict. The illegal regime established in those occupied territories is under direct military command and control of the Armenian armed forces.

These civilians should not be prosecuted by Armenia if for no other reason than the fact that they were in the internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan.

Dilgam Askerov, like hundreds of thousands of others illegally expelled from their native land, is very attached to his home. He had been traveling to the Kelbajar district to visit his family’s graveyard.

Askerov and his friends were posting real time videos online as they were walking around in the woods. It is absurd to imagine that saboteurs on a mission to collect intelligence and engage in “subversive” activity would post videos online.

As a result of Armenia’s aggression and occupation, described as an ethnic cleansing by some international observers, more than 750,000 Azerbaijani civilians were forced to flee their homes. There are an estimated 60,000 internally displaced persons from the Kelbajar district alone.

Charging these innocent civilians with “illegally crossing a state border” is both cruel and absurd. Askerov and his friends never crossed an international border and were obviously visiting their homes for personal reasons.

By denying detained civilians basic rights and protections under the relevant Geneva Conventions, particularly the Geneva Conventions for the Protection of War Victims of 1949, Armenia yet again violates international humanitarian law.

Most harrowing of all is the fact that, in addition to Askerov and his friends, the health and whereabouts of more than 4,000 other Azerbaijani prisoners of war and detained civilians remain unknown.