Azerbaijani NGOs demand probe into Armenia's war crimes

By Azernews

By Sabina Mammadli

The Azerbaijani Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) demanded the world community investigate war crimes committed by Armenia, Azernews reports.

"We, the Non-Governmental Organisations, operating in Azerbaijan, appealing to world and international organizations, demand that war crimes, committed by Armenia, are investigated by international structures, and a legal and political assessment be given to the mining of territories and the failure to provide reliable maps of minefields. We demand punishment of Armenia by the international community, and international organizations for the crimes it has committed against humanity," the statement reads.

Further, the statement added that Armenia at all times acted against principles and norms of international law in relation to Azerbaijan's civilian population, committed terrorist acts, and genocide, targeted the civilian population during both Karabakh wars, and continued landmine terror after the end of the second Karabakh war.

It was emphasized that Armenia, which occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijani territories for 30 years, laid more than a million mines on these territories, including mines of Armenian production.

As a result of mine explosions, 267 citizens of Azerbaijan were killed or seriously injured two years after the end of the second Karabakh war. To this day, within the framework of mine-clearance operations, tens of thousands of mines and unexploded ordnances have been detected and destroyed. The accuracy and reliability of the information in the mine maps presented by Armenia are very low, the statement noted.

Another Azerbaijani civilian was injured in a mine blast in Jabrayil District on November 2.

Armenia spared no efforts to plant land mines on Azerbaijani territory, not only during the 30 years of occupation but also just before days of quitting Azerbaijani lands as envisaged in the trilateral statement in order to cause human casualties.

Rarely a day goes by without news of civilians or military personnel being injured or killed as a result of mine explosions in Azerbaijan's liberated lands.

Armenia deliberately and constantly planted mines on Azerbaijani territories, in violation of the 1949 Geneva Convention, thereby being a major threat to regional peace, security, and cooperation.