Foreign

Home page

Foreign

Ambassador Agshin Mehdiyev: â€œThe leadership of Armenia must realize that democracy cannot be propagated by the sword and that illegal acts cannot produce legal rightsâ€

04 November 2011 11:37 (UTC +04:00)

The Ambassador has raised his concern over the facts that Armenian forces intensified attacks on Azerbaijani civilians and civilian objects over the last months. Three Azerbaijani Army servicemen were wounded by Armenian fire during the ceasefire violations recorded for September.

â€œIt should be particularly noted that during the reporting period the armed forces of Armenia considerably intensified fire not only from their positions in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, but also from the territory of Armenia, targeting both the military and civilian objects across the front line and the border between Azerbaijan and Armeniaâ€, he mentioned.

The period was also marked by new instances of non-combat violence among Armenian military personnel serving in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

â€œAccording to mass media reports, confirmed by the Ministry of Defense of Armenia, private Hovannes Vardanyan was taken to the mental hospital after 14 months of military service in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, while private Hayk Mkrtchyan was shot dead by a fellow soldier on 7 September 2011. Expressing their serious concern about these facts, Armenian human rights organizations did not fail to add that during the period of ceasefire, in effect since 1994, as many as 1,500 Armenian soldiers have died as a result of non-combat violence. It should be noted that the above-named soldiers, both citizens and residents of Armenia, were drafted into the armed forces of Armenia and assigned to serve in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan by the Republic of Armeniaâ€™s Military Registration and Enlistment Offices of Ararat and Echmiadzin districts respectivelyâ€, says the letter.

â€œBesides, the investigation of both cases is being carried out by the Investigation Unit of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia under that countryâ€™s Criminal Codeâ€.

The Ambassador mentioned that accordingly, as in previous similar instances the Ministry of Defense of Armenia exercises its investigative powers in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, and the Criminal Code of Armenia applies to these territories.

After that, Ambassador Mehdiyev drew the UN officialsâ€™ attention to the last letter of Permanent Representative of Armenia, in which the author attempts to interpret the illegal â€œelectionsâ€ to the â€œlocal self-governing bodiesâ€ held on 18 September 2011 in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan as the exercise by the Armenian inhabitants of their â€œfundamental human rightsâ€.

However, Mr. Mehdiyev says â€œhe omits to mention the unenviable fate of the significantly larger Azerbaijani population of the same region, whose rights and freedoms were deliberately and savagely suppressed. It is well known that Armenia used military force to seize the Azerbaijani lands, carry out total ethnic cleansing there and establish on the occupied territory of Azerbaijan the ethnically constructed subordinate separatist entity. It is undisputable that Azerbaijani territories are under occupation and that Armenia is an occupying Power within the meaning of the relevant international legal provisionsâ€.

The international community has repeatedly stated the illegality of the separatist entity, which is none other than a product of aggression and racial discrimination, and declared all â€œelectionsâ€ arranged so far in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan null and void.
In this regard, Mehdiyev adds, â€œit would be useful if the Permanent Representative of Armenia and his countryâ€™s leadership could carefully read the relevant resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly, as well as the documents of other international organizations and numerous statements of many Member Statesâ€.

â€œThe leadership of Armenia must realize that democracy cannot be propagated by the sword and that illegal acts cannot produce legal rights. It is obvious in this regard that one cannot demand the legitimating of privileges at the core of which is the discriminatory denial of fundamental rights and freedoms with respect to othersâ€, he added.

â€œAzerbaijan has no doubt, and the clearly expressed unanimity of the international community affirms this confidence, that the attempts of Armenia to give the ethnically constructed subordinate separatist regime set up by it in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan the appearance of legitimacy, independence and democracy are, a priori, doomed to failureâ€, the Ambassador wrote.