Evidence of Azeri war crimes accumulates
Armenia is waging two battles at the moment: one against Azerbaijani aggression in Artsakh, and the other against the coronavirus pandemic, the spread of which has peaked in wartime.
In violation of the humanitarian ceasefire and the legal mandate to protect civilians in wartime, Azerbaijan has shelled various civilian settlements in Artsakh in the past 24 hours. At 7:00PM on Thursday, the Azerbaijani military fired cluster missiles from a BM-30 Smerch multiple rocket launcher at the Karmir Shuka, or “Red Market,” village in Martuni. One civilian was killed in the attack. Earlier in the day, one civilian was injured as a result of an aircraft bombardment in the Knavaran village in Shahumyan. Meanwhile rockets continue to devastate civilian infrastructure in the capital city of Stepanakert.
Fierce fighting persists along the Line of Contact,
particularly in the southern direction in the greater Arax region.
During his evening press briefing, Ministry of Defense representative
Artsrun Hovhannisyan said that the adversary launched military
operations in two to three directions on Thursday, deploying artillery
fire, infantry and air force capabilities. As of Thursday evening, total
military losses on the Azerbaijani side include 184 unmanned aerial
vehicles, 16 helicopters, 21 airplanes and 551 armored vehicles as well
as 6,189 casualties. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights, at least 126
of those deaths are among Syrian mercenaries recruited by Turkey and
transported to the frontline to fight alongside Azeri forces. The
Artsakh Defense Ministry released 49 names of Armenian soldiers killed
in combat today, bringing the total number of fatalities to over 600.
“We are losing our precious friends during this time, defending our land
with their blood,” Hovhannisyan shared at the end of a somber press
briefing. “I believe that we will be victorious.”
Armenia’s Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan announced that
his office has obtained video and photographic evidence documenting the
treatment of Armenian prisoners of war by the Azerbaijani military.
According to a statement, members of the Azerbaijani army “humiliate
prisoners of war at maximum and then brutally kill them with extreme
cynicism.” The killing, torture or inhumane treatment of prisoners of
war is strictly prohibited under international law.
Azerbaijan’s invasion of Artsakh was initiated in the midst
of the COVID-19 pandemic, the severe public health ramifications of
which have been aggravated by the war. As stated by the deputy director
general of the Armenian Health Ministry’s Center for Disease Control and
Prevention Gayane Sahakyan during a press conference, the number of
recorded COVID-19 cases has doubled in Armenia in the past 14 days. In
the past two days alone, unprecedented numbers of positive cases have
been reported—1,058 cases yesterday and 1,371 cases today. Members of
Artsakh’s Defense Army have not been tested due to the difficulties of
conducting COVID-19 testing at the frontline. According to Sahakyan, the
declaration of martial law in Armenia created favorable conditions for
the spread of the virus, due to factors including resettlement, large
gatherings, close contact between people and an overburdened public
transportation system. “We must always remember that we
coexist alongside the coronavirus,” she warned. “It poses as grave of a
threat as the war, because in both instances we are struggling against
an invisible enemy.”
Today the Armenian Civil Aviation Committee announced that a
flight carrying 100 tons of humanitarian assistance from Los Angeles to
Yerevan through Qatar Airways scheduled for October 15 was cancelled by
the airline with no reason provided. The plane was meant to pass
through Turkish airspace. “We have reason to believe that Turkey
deliberately closed the air route,” the Civil Aviation Committee press release
states. “Even before the start of the war, Turkey began to create
obstacles, requesting a detailed list of cargo from airlines when
passing through Turkish airspace.”
Despite calls from the Armenian and Russian Foreign Ministries
for the establishment of ceasefire verification mechanisms, no
negotiations are underway to reach an agreement on monitoring the
ceasefire, according to the Director of the Information and Press
Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova. “We need to
immediately organize a meeting between the military and agree on a
mechanism for monitoring the ceasefire,” Zakharova stated.
In the meantime, the Austrian Parliament voted unanimously to adopt a resolution
condemning Turkey’s role in “pouring fire on the fuel” of the conflict
and advocating that the “European Union use its influence on all actors
involved, in particular Turkey, to stop external interference in the
conflict, such as arms deliveries to the conflicting parties, and to
work toward rapid deescalation.” The Flemish Parliament, on its end,
unanimously adopted a resolution
identifying Azerbaijan and Turkey as the aggressor countries in the
conflict and censuring the violations of international humanitarian law
committed by Azerbaijan in targeting the peaceful civilian population of
Artsakh.
For the third day in a row, United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addressed the conflict, expressing
his hope that the “Armenians will be able to defend against what the
Azerbaijanis are doing” during an interview on the Erick Erickson Show
on WSB Atlanta. “We now have the Turks, who have stepped in and provided
resources to Azerbaijan, increasing the risk, increasing the firepower
that’s taking place in this historic fight over this place called
Nagorno-Karabakh,” he acknowledged.
Source: https://armenianweekly.com/2020/10/15/evidence-of-azeri-war-crimes-accumulates/
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