Azerbaijan pities UN experts succumbing to Armenia's manipulations Foreign Ministry's statement

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has regretted that the United Nations (UN) experts succumbed to Armenia's manipulations regarding Azerbaijan's alleged blockade of the "Lachin corridor" as well as the "tense humanitarian situation" in the "Nagorno-Karabakh" region.

“Claims of some special rapporteurs and the independent expert of the United Nations Human Rights Council on Azerbaijan’s alleged blockade of the ‘Lachin corridor’, as well as the ‘tense humanitarian situation’ in the ‘Nagorno-Karabakh’ region are both regrettable, as well as indicative of the attempts to turn UN bodies into a tool for political manipulations,” the ministry responded to the statement of some special rapporteurs and independent experts of the UN Human Rights Council on the situation around Lachin road, Caliber.Az reports. 

According to the ministry, UN special rapporteurs and experts getting deceived by the manipulations of Armenia and issuing biased statements all the while turning a blind eye to the 30 years of occupation of the territories of Azerbaijan, the human rights violations against almost 1 million refugees and internally displaced persons, the presence of Armenian Armed Forces in the territories of Azerbaijan in the last three years, as well as obstruction of the return of IDPs to their homes is extremely worrying.

“In addition, the use of expressions such as ‘Nagorno-Karabakh’ by the above-mentioned persons, expressing clear disrespect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan, interference in the internal affairs of Azerbaijan, as well as double standards against it in the statement, is inadmissible.

It must be strongly reminded that Armenia, besides failing to withdraw its armed forces from the territories of Azerbaijan in clear violation of its assumed obligations has also conducted their rotation to and from the territories of Azerbaijan and supplied them with munitions via the Lachin road, as well as engaged in looting of natural resources of Azerbaijan. These actions were met with silence by the UN and other organizations.

Azerbaijan has set up the Lachin border checkpoint in its sovereign territories to establish control over its own borders and to prevent the illegal activities of Armenia. Moreover, the July 6 decision of the International Court of Justice unanimously rejecting the appeal of Armenia for the removal of said checkpoint once more proved the groundless nature of Armenia’s claims,” the ministry says.

“Despite Azerbaijan’s facilitation of the passage of the Armenian residents, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) personnel, as well as the Russian peacekeeping contingent through the checkpoint, Armenia has falsely disseminated allegations on the “tense humanitarian situation” in the region to continue its illegal activities in the territories of Azerbaijan. It has also resorted to provocations, including opening fire on the Border Guard personnel, attempted smuggling, as well as the dispatch of cargo trucks to the territories of Azerbaijan without prior agreement on July 26.

Armenia has continued its provocations despite it being urged to refrain from the provocations against the Lachin border checkpoint and on the guarantees for safe passage.

Azerbaijan continues to facilitate the passage of Armenian residents through the checkpoint via ICRC notwithstanding the aforementioned provocations.

Coming to the issue of meeting the needs of the Armenian population living in the sovereign territories of Azerbaijan, the Armenian side refused the proposals of Azerbaijan on the usage of “Aghdam - Khankandi” and other alternative routes, as well as blocking these routes with concrete barriers despite these proposals being supported by the European Union and the ICRC, clearly demonstrate the claims on “tense humanitarian situation” to be nothing more than political blackmail and manipulation.

At this time, Azerbaijan makes efforts to establish lasting peace and security in the region, and in this regard, it has put forward initiatives for the peace agreement, delimitation, as well as the opening of communications. The issuing of biased statements instead of supporting these efforts will not yield any positive results for this process,” the ministry added.