The reason that stands behind my appeal to such a world known media body as yours is the dramatic fate of 3 Azerbaijani civilians – Hasan Hasanov, Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev, who were taken hostage by Armenian Armed Forces on July 11, 2014 in the occupied Kalbajar region of the Azerbaijani Republic. Hasan Hasanov has already been severely tortured and killed. Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev, who are still alive, face a true human drama. They urgently need clean air to breath, medicine, food and enough drinking water. In contradiction with Articles 27, 29 and 32 of Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949 on the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, the Azerbaijani hostages have been severely tortured for more than three months. However, these Azerbaijanis have not committed any crime and have not violated any norm of the international law. The requirements of Articles 2, 3, 5, 6 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms have been grossly violated towards these people.
According to Article 12 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966, Article 2 of the Protocol №4 to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, as well as other norms of the international law, every citizen has the right to the freedom of movement in her/his country. This right has also been clearly reflected in paragraph III of Article 28 of the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Nonetheless, these Azerbaijanis have been taken hostage by Armenian Armed Forces within the borders of the Azerbaijan Republic recognised by all the world and the United Nations. Armenia and the separatist regime of Nagorno-Karabakh are planning to bring them to a fabricated “trial” on October 27. This would be the first ever fake trial to be held for visiting one’s home and graves of the relatives. It’s not occasional that on that very day a meeting between the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia on the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was planned in Paris with the mediation of President of France Francois Hollande. Like Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev, more than one million Azerbaijanis suffer from the unsettled Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Illegal imprisonment of Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev and severe tortures faced by them, as well as the trial show are provocations aimed to undermine the negotiation process.
As an independent member of the Azerbaijani Parliament, I ask you to facilitate the spread of my appeal to Armenian public for the sake of peace and justice in the region. I call every Armenian to demand from their government the immediate release of two innocent Azerbaijanis taken hostage, and Armenian Armed Forces to recede from the sovereign lands of another state – the Azerbaijani Republic. We want to live together in peace and security.
It is enough to review the online campaign initiated recently in the social networks in 5 languages in order to understand the enormous concern of the Azerbaijani public on this issue:
#SaveAzeHostages
#GirovlarimiziAzadEt
#CпасемAzeЗаложников
#SauverLesOtagesAze
#Փրկենքադրգերիներին
https://www.facebook.com/events/303922283130654/
Together with the family of Shahbaz Guliyev who runs a life of an IDP in Gapanly village of Tartar region from where I was elected an MP, I hope your media channel will be the first to spread the news about the release of the two Azerbaijanis to his relatives and all of Azerbaijan.
I hope Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev will stay alive, and we will be in time to release them.
Sincerely yours,
On behalf of the initiative group of “SaveAzeHostages” online campaign
Sahib Aliyev
Indepent MP of the Azerbaijani Parliament
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