Wednesday, March 17 2021 21:58

ArmInfo.Armenia's Permanent Representative to UN  Mher Margaryan has applied with an open letter to the UN Secretary  General regarding Azerbaijan's persistent efforts to deny its use of  mercenaries and foreign terrorist fighters, as verified and confirmed  by multiple international accounts

The letter reads: ''One obvious manifestation of such efforts can be  seen in a publication entitled "Report on the use of foreign  terrorist fighters by the Republic of Armenia in its recent  aggression against the Republic of Azerbaijan", an iteration of which  was annexed to the letter dated 18 November 2020 from the Permanent  Representative of Azerbaijan addressed to the Secretary-General  (A/75/625-S/2020/1161). 

The longer version of the so-called "report", which Azerbaijan has  made available online1 and shared through its official social media  accounts, 2 makes bold conclusory statements without any credible  supporting evidence. It moreover discloses personal information, such  as the full name, place of residence, date of birth, phone numbers  and email address, of most of the individuals carelessly labelled as  "foreign mercenaries" and "foreign terrorist fighters" (or "FTFs")  allegedly "recruited by Armenia".  Even photographs of some  individuals are included. Azerbaijan's fraudulent manipulation of the  facts on the ground in international forums are nothing short of an  ill- advised attempt to engage in defamation with the purpose of  deflecting the attention of the international community from its  reckless and unlawful activities in the region.  Clearly, the  "report" is yet another attempt to obfuscate the widely known facts  confirmed by an extensive body of internationally verified evidence  regarding Azerbaijan's use of mercenaries and foreign terrorist  fighters recruited and transferred to Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) with  the direct assistance of Turkey.3 Even a cursory review of this  false, unsubstantiated and intentionally deceptive publication shows  that it cannot withstand the simplest of scrutiny. As a threshold  matter, there is no evidence to support Azerbaijan's claim that  Armenia has recruited mercenaries. While citing the International  Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of  Mercenaries, the "report" fails to provide any facts to satisfy  either definition of "mercenary" under article 1 of the Convention.  Ironically, in arguing that Armenia is recruiting Syrian and Lebanese  nationals, the "report" cites for support sources that actually  provide evidence that it is in fact Azerbaijan and Turkey that  recruited and/or used Syrian nationals as mercenaries against  Armenia.

Indeed, the "report" does not cite a single independent, credible  source to support Azerbaijan's allegations. Most references in the  "report" have either Azerbaijani or Turkish origin and can thus  hardly be considered objective or credible. The rare non-  Azerbaijani, non-Turkish sources referenced in the "report" either  themselves rely on Azerbaijani or Turkish sources, or provide no  support at all for Azerbaijan's assertions.  Notably, the "report"  lacks independent, credible, first-hand accounts and largely relies  on anecdotal information (mostly self-reported by Azerbaijan or  Turkey). With respect to data obtained from the so-called  "intelligence sources", the "report" simply provides an unsourced  list of names of individuals, whom the "report" labels as foreign  terrorist fighters without citing any actual intelligence or data or  providing any specific act or acts of terrorism carried out by the  individual.  Despite claiming that "the evidence gleaned before and  during hostilities leaves no doubt as to the organized recruitment of  mercenaries and FTFs by Armenia and their transfer to the conflict  zone for using in combats against Azerbaijan and its civilian  population", the "report" cites no clear, let alone credible,  evidence of such activity by the Armenian Government. Rather, the  so-called "report" is riddled with unsubstantiated claims of Armenian  "terrorism" and alleged recruitment of terrorists with no proof.  Evidently, the "report" has been prepared and disseminated in order  to offset the plethora of well- documented, credible evidence and  independent reports substantiating Azerbaijan's and Turkey's  recruitment and/or use of mercenaries.

In the face of mounting evidence, also mentioned by the United  Nations Working Group on the use of mercenaries,4 Azerbaijan's  publication is nothing short of a desperate effort to divert  attention from the fact that it has employed terrorists and  mercenaries from Syria and introduced them into the Nagorno-Karabakh  conflict zone.

Notably, the "report" not only intends to mislead the  international  community, but it also endangers hundreds of nationals from 23 United  Nations Member States, who are haphazardly labelled as "foreign  mercenaries" and "terrorist fighters".  The promulgation of  fabricated allegations put forward in Azerbaijan's ill-constructed  "report", in all its available iterations, as well as the fact of  disclosing personally identifiable information of individuals  negligently labelled as "terrorists" or "mercenaries" in a defamatory  publication with no proof, represent a source of grave concern that  must not go unchecked by the relevant United Nations bodies. In an  atmosphere where ethnic Armenians worldwide have become targets of  hate crimes due to the repeated and unpunished use of inflammatory  language by the Azerbaijani and Turkish authorities, such  irresponsible publications must be acknowledged for what they are: a  clear invitation to harassment, bullying and even inter-ethnic  violence. As I elaborated in my letter dated 30 July 2020 (A/74/981),  instances of incitement to ethnic hatred, led and encouraged at the  level of State authorities, represent a significant indicator of the  risk of atrocity crimes and, as such, need to be effectively  identified and adequately addressed, at all levels.  I kindly ask   that the present letter be circulated as a document of the General  Assembly, under agenda items 34, 70, 71, 72, 114 and 135, and of the  Security Council''.