The Council of State Support to Non-Governmental Organizations under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan appealed international organizations regarding with the recent violation of ceasefire by Armenian side, AzVision.az reports.

to the Secretary General of the UN Mr. Ban Ki-moon,
to the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Mr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier,
to the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Mr. Ilkka Kanerva,
to the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Mr. Pedro Agramunt
to the Secretary General of NATO Mr. Jens Stoltenberg,
to the President of the European Council Mr. Donald Tusk,
to the President of the European Parliament Mr. Martin Schulz,
to the President of the United States of America Mr. Barack Obama,
to the President of the Russian Federation Mr. Vladimir Putin,
to the President of France Mr. François Hollande

APPEAL of Azerbaijani non-governmental organizations

It is well known that in 1998-1994 Armenia occupied 17 thousand km2 territory of Azerbaijan, including Nagorno Karabakh (4.4 thousand km2) and 7 adjacent districts (Agdam, Zanghilan, Gubadly, Lachin, Kelbajar, Fuzuli, Jabrayil). Over the past years as a result of military aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan more than 20 thousand Azerbaijanis were killed, 100 thousands were wounded, 50 thousand people got injuries of various degrees and became disabled, 4011 people were missing. 1 million civilians of the occupied territories became IDPs. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed the ceasefire agreement.

Despite the signing of the ceasefire agreement, the Armenian armed forces on a regular basis kept shelling the settlements and killing the civilians. On April 2, 2016, the Armenian armed forces once again violated the ceasefire agreement and attacked the settlements, refugee camps and Azerbaijani positions along the contact line of troops using heavy equipment and artillery. It should be noted that current contact line of troops lies within the UN recognised borders of Azerbaijan, i.e. within our country. There is no civil population on the occupant’s side of line; however the Azerbaijani side of the contact line is densely populated by civilians. We would like to emphasize that all military operations have been conducted on the territory of Azerbaijan, not Armenia. As a result of Armenia`s provocative attack within last 3 days 10 civilians and 31 servicemen were killed, dozens were wounded, more than 200 private homes and public buildings were destroyed. By opening the fire at civilians, Armenia gravely violates the provisions of the Geneva Convention (1949).

On April 3, taking into account the persistent appeals of international organizations and demonstrating its commitment to a negotiated settlement of the conflict, Azerbaijan unilaterally stopped the counter-attack operations and retaliatory measures against the enemy in the occupied territories. But, unfortunately, Armenian armed forces continue its provocations and shelling of Azerbaijani positions along the line of contact using heavy weapons, including artillery. Though on April 5, Azerbaijan again announced the ceasefire, Armenian armed forces resumed artillery fire at settlements.

Azerbaijan repeatedly brought to the attention of the international community that illegal presence of the Armenian armed forces on the occupied territories of Azerbaijan remains a major cause of deterioration of the situation and continues to make a serious threat to peace and stability in the region. By continuously committing the provocations, strengthening its military presence on the occupied territories, artificially changing the demographic situation in these territories by means of settlement of population of armenian origin, engaging in the illegal economic and other activity, Armenia pursues its primary purpose-to keep the Azerbaijani territories under occupation and maintain the status-quo. The heads of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries - US President Barack Obama, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and President of France Francois Hollande repeatedly stressed the importance of changing the status quo in the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in their statements. However Armenia ignored these calls.

UN Security Council resolutions 822 (1993), 853 (1993), 874 (1993) and 884 (1993), as well as resolution 62/243 of the UN General Assembly (2008) form the main basis for the conflict resolution. In these resolutions the United Nations reaffirmed that Nagorno Karabakh and 7 adjacent districts are the integral parts of Azerbaijan and demanded the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the occupying forces from all the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. Unfortunately for more than 20 years no effective steps have been taken towards Armenia, though it continues the violation of the norms of international law and occupation of the territory of Azerbaijan. Inspired by the impunity, Armenia resumes its illegal actions.

On April 4, PACE expressed concern over escalation on the contact line of troops and called on Armenia to withdraw its military units from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

We, non-governmental organisations of Azerbaijan, appeal to you and call on you to take effective steps in order to ensure the fullfillment of UN resolutions by Armenia, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. Only after that true peace can come to the region.

With regards,

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