The world media has many reports on firing by the Armenian armed forces of the civilian population in the village of Alkhanli of Fuzuli district and killing of Sahiba Guliyeva and her two-year-old granddaughter Zahra Guliyeva.
To inform the international media, Lionel Zetter, director of The European Azerbaijan Society (TEAS), has sent the letters to such famous editions as "The Times", The Guardian, "The Economist" and “New York Times”. It ran:
“With so many conflicts raging around the world, the ongoing Armenian–Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh receives little coverage. Your newspaper is an honourable exception to that rule.
Armenian armed forces located close to the ‘contact line’ regularly fire on the peaceful Azerbaijani population. On 4 July 2017, two inhabitants of the Alkhanli village of the Fizuli region – two-year-old Zahra Guliyeva and her grandmother, Sahiba Guliyeva – were killed by mortar fire directed from Armenian-occupied land. This was in direct contravention of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 and other international agreements, which defend the rights of civil society and forbid the targeting of civilians.
The perpetrators of this atrocity should be prosecuted, either by the Aremnian authorities or by the International Criminal Court. It is now 29 years since Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven surrounding regions were occupied by Armenia, and it is time for them to obey the four outstanding UN Security Council Resolutions and withdraw their troops.
In a letter addressed to “The Economist”, it is emphasized that the South Caucasus and Caspian Basin regions have enormous economic potential.
This potential will never be fully realised unless a lasting peace can be negotiated between Azerbaijan and Armenia. A recent atrocity has underlined this fact. Armenian armed forces located close to the ‘contact line’ regularly fire on the peaceful Azerbaijani population. On 4 July 2017, two inhabitants of the Alkhanli village of the Fizuli region – two-year-old Zahra Guliyeva and her grandmother Sahiba Guliyeva – were killed.
The Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territory has served to destroy the Armenian economy. With no natural resources of its own, it could have benefited from the BP-led Azerbaijani hydrocarbons boom, which has resulted in the country becoming the leading economy in the CIS. However, due to the conflict with Azerbaijan, all pipelines have been forced to detour to avoid Armenian territory and the country remains reliant on the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant. This uses a Soviet-era design without a containment vessel that is identical to that at Chernobyl. Furthermore, borders are closed with two of Armenia’s neighbours – Azerbaijan and Turkey – leaving it totally reliant on Russia. It continues to host Russian military bases on its territory.
International institutions should call for the peaceful settlement of the conflict. They should not ignore the fact that Armenia killed members of the Azerbaijani civilian population – children, women and the elderly – and should pressurise Armenia to end its illegal occupation of Azerbaijani territory”.
On July 4 at about 20:40 (GMT+4 hours), the Armenian armed forces, using 82-mm and 120-mm mortars and grenade launchers, shelled the Alkhanli village of Azerbaijan’s Fuzuli district. As a result of this provocation, the residents of the village Sahiba Allahverdiyeva, 50, and Zahra Guliyeva, 2, were killed. Salminaz Guliyeva, 52, was injured.
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