Armenian military was using large-caliber weapons and Grad missile launchers, according to Hasanov.
As a result of the shelling, one resident of Azerbaijan’s Aghdam district was killed, eight others injured, the PA official said, noting that four of the injured are in crucial condition.
Moreover, only those three days, about 100 houses were damaged, dozens of houses were destroyed. The shelling also caused serious damage to property, economy, as well as administrative buildings and communal infrastructure, Hasanov added.
In response to the question about the silence of international organizations and the OSCE Minsk Group over the shelling by Armenia of Azerbaijan’s residential areas in recent day, Hasanov replied.
“Unfortunately, international organizations, including the OSCE Minsk Group, which is directly engaged in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and the Minsk Group member countries did not react to the heavy shelling by Armenian armed forces of Azerbaijan’s settlements and deaths of civilians as a result of it,” the PA official stressed.
He recalled that in early April, the Azerbaijani armed forces gave a deserved response to the successive provocations of Armenia and liberated some territories that had been under occupation. However, it drew swift reaction from many international organizations and states, who called for an end to the hostilities and for the restoration of the ceasefire.
Hasanov emphasized that the silence of these organizations in the current situation suggests that international organizations, especially the OSCE Minsk Group, have focused all efforts on ensuring the safety of the separatist regime in Nagorno-Karabakh and its military criminals, and on maintaining the status quo in the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
“We think this is the most striking example of double standards against Azerbaijan. This is a demonstration of disrespect for the Azerbaijani people, international law and the principle of justice,” he said.
The PA official urged the international community, the OSCE and other international organizations to take decisive steps to put an end to these actions of Armenia aimed against Azerbaijani civilians.
Azerbaijan is not going to tolerate further provocations from the Armenian leadership and this country’s armed forces, destruction of residential areas, murder of civilians, according to him.
“In the case of continued silence from the international community, Azerbaijan will be forced to take decisive actions to protect the civilian population and put an end to the provocations. And then Armenia and those who are silent at Armenia’s provocations will bear responsibility for that situation,” Hasanov concluded.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict entered its modern phase when the Armenian SRR made territorial claims against the Azerbaijani SSR in 1988.
A fierce war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. As a result of the war, Armenian armed forces occupied some 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory which includes Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts (Lachin, Kalbajar, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Gubadli and Zangilan), and over a million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced people.
The military operations finally came to an end when Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in Bishkek in 1994.
Dealing with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the OSCE Minsk Group, which was created after the meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Helsinki on 24 March 1992. The Group’s members include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belarus, Finland and Sweden.
Besides, the OSCE Minsk Group has a co-chairmanship institution, comprised of Russian, US and French co-chairs, which began operating in 1996.
Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 of the UN Security Council, which were passed in short intervals in 1993, and other resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly, PACE, OSCE, OIC, and other organizations require Armenia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh.
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