Friday, September 22 2023 13:17

ArmInfo. Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, during his speech at an extraordinary  meeting of the UN Security Council, expressed gratitude to the Security Council for convening this urgent meeting to discuss the security and humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh stemming from unprovoked and well-planned military attack by Azerbaijan.

Below is the full statement of Foreign Minister Mirzoyan, which is  posted on the official website of the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"Mr. President,

Distinguished colleagues,

I thank the Security Council for convening this urgent meeting to  discuss the security and humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh  stemming from unprovoked and well-planned military attack by  Azerbaijan.

While the UN General Assembly's session is underway and all the  members of international community are gathered here to look for ways  to maintain peace and security worldwide, while we all speak about  the imperative to condemn use of force, prevent further loss of human  lives caused by man-made disasters, while each of us comes here to  contribute to peace, in our region in South Caucasus on 19th  September Azerbaijan unleashed yet another large-scale offensive  against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, in blatant violation of the  international law and Trilateral Statement of November 9, 2020.  Literally the whole territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, Stepanakert and  other cities and settlements came under intense and indiscriminate  shelling with use of missiles, heavy artillery, combat UAVs and  aviation, including prohibited cluster munition.  The intensity and  cruelty of the offensive makes it clear that the intention is to  finalize ethnic cleansing of the Armenian population of  Nagorno-Karabakh. 

Outcomes of this large-scale military operation clearly reveal their  atrocious nature. Yet they are very preliminary as due to the  targeted attacks against critical infrastructure, such as electricity  stations, telephone cables and  stations and internet equipment, the  population is completely cut- off from each other and is deprived of  the possibility to present the real-time situation on the ground.  Also, Azerbaijani troops control main roads in Nagorno-Karabakh which  makes it impossible to visit and get information on the ground. 

For the time being there are confirmed cases of more than 200 killed  and 400 wounded, including among civilian population, women and  children, also accepted today by the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign  Affairs. More than ten thousand persons became forcibly displaced,  including women, children, and elderly, who stay in the open air,  without food and other means for subsistence.  Thousands of families  have been separated. Add to this around twenty thousand displaced  persons from the 2020 war to see that there are enormous humanitarian  needs on the ground.  People are still starving due to the severe  shortages of food imposed by the ongoing 10-month blockade.

The healthcare system has been paralyzed. Hospitals have no  electricity and are in a critical shortage of medicine. People are  deprived of the opportunity to receive even first aid. Without fuel,  ambulances cannot operate to take the wounded to hospitals.

The images coming from Nagorno-Karabakh are truly shocking: women,  children, elderly people left without shelter and food, moms  desperately trying to find their lost children, wives crying from  fear that Azerbaijan may imprison their husbands. It's hard to  believe that all this is happening not a hundred years ago but today  in front of the international community in the 21st century. The  social media is full of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh searching for  their children or relatives. The children that suddenly appeared to  stay in shelters or even streets continue crying and asking their  parents to take them home, refusing to recognize that they do not  have a home anymore. During the shelling an eight-year boy has gone  missing in one of the settlements of Nagorno-Karabakh, his brother  ten years old was killed and his body has not been even possible to  take out from the village. The other brother was injured. These are  only examples of numerous cases. In the eyes of Azerbaijan these  children are terrorists, and Azerbaijan's actions, missiles, armored  vehicles, artillery and UAVs were directed against those children,  their parents and grandparents. 

The Azerbaijani social media segment is full of calls to find the  missing children and women, to rape them, dismember and feed them to  dogs. Azerbaijani users are sharing the profiles of Armenian women  from Nagorno-Karabakh on social media making biddings on who will get  those women to rape, when they are taken under Azerbaijani custody.   Colleagues, 

This was feasible, the clear signs were there. We have been alarming  for a long time now. The international community refused to take it  seriously enough. 

The current aggression came as a culmination of a 10-months-long  blockade of the Lachin corridor and forced starvation imposed on the  people of Nagorno-Karabakh. Severe shortage of food, medicine, fuel,  natural gas, electricity and other essential goods had already  brought the vulnerable people of Nagorno-Karabakh to the brink of  humanitarian catastrophe. One should be naive to think that this was  not precisely thought through ever since or even before the  institutionalization of the inhumane blockade with the aim of  bringing down the will and ability of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh  to resist and maintain their lives and livelihood in their ancestral  homeland. The Azerbaijani aggression that unfolded with explicit  barbarity and deliberate targeting of civilian populations and  infrastructure was the final act of this tragedy aimed at the forced  exodus of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.

When Azerbaijan blocked the Lachin cCorridor and we called for urgent  meeting of the UNSC in December 2022 - this Council failed to react  adequately, When the International Court of Justice on February 22  and July 6, 2023, adopted legally binding orders and they were  disrespected by Azerbaijan- this Council as an august body meant to  ensure the implementation of ICJ orders failed to react adequately,  When in April Azerbaijan installed illegal check-point in the Lachin  cCorridor and later started to kidnap people, including ones under  the protection of international humanitarian law,- international  community failed to undertake adequate measures, When Armenia called  again for another UNSC urgent session in August 2023 - warning about  the fragile security and humanitarian situation and calling the  Council to use its toolbox to address all the issues and not let  people of Nagorno-Karabakh behind, this Council failed to react  adequately, During the days prior to September 19's Azerbaijani  aggression when Armenia was raising alarm about feasible use of force  by Azerbaijan and seeking for concrete measures and actions to  prevent this scenario - international community reacted to our  warning with skepticism.  Now when Azerbaijan has already restarted  to use force against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, when these this  people are forcefully deported from their houses and are at danger to  be forcefully deported from their homeland, when many who have been  defending their families and their right to live in freedom and  dignity in their homeland for the last 30 years are at danger of mass  arrests and prosecution, when we have a situation where there is not  an intent any more, but clear and irrefutable evidences of policy of  ethnic cleansing and mass atrocities - the Security Council of the  United Nations must act.

Despite accepting all demands of the Azerbaijani side in order to  stop the bloodshed and ongoing talks today, the people of  Nagorno-Karabakh were again subjected to attacks using different  caliber weapons and mortars, thus forcing the civilians once again to  seek shelter in the basements. We believe such attacks and further  persecutions will continue unless there is a clear international  action. 

By the way, regarding the mentioned demands, I would like to state  very clearly and unequivocally that the Republic of Armenia was not  part of those discussions and we resolutely reiterate that the claims  and references to the presence of any military personnel of the Armed  Forces of the Republic of Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh do not  correspond to reality.  In this attempt we clearly see the intention  of some actors to involve the Republic of Armenia in military actions  thus transferring the hostilities into our sovereign territories. The  position of Armenia firmly remains the same: we should establish  peaceful relations based on mutual recognition of sovereignty and  territorial integrity, which certainly cannot be anyhow  misinterpreted and used as a license for mass atrocities, including  ethnic cleansings in Nagorno- Karabakh. The rights and security of  the Armenian people of Nagorno-Karabakh must be properly addressed  and internationally guaranteed.

There is also another very important aspect regarding the parties  involved. As I noted some of you in your statements still make  general calls to the sides of conflict. This approach and this  terminology are not relevant any more. There are no more sides of the  conflict but perpetrators and victims. There is no more conflict but  a real danger of atrocity crime. Is it still possible to prevent it  now? We are here because we believe so. Because we still believe in  humanity, in international law and in the ability of the Security  Council to act decisively when lives of thousands are at stake.  Mr.  President, 

Against this backdrop, time and again, I appeal to the Security  Council to demonstrate its credibility and reputation by undertaking  the following urgent measures:

-    To condemn the resumption of hostilities and targeting of  civilian settlements and infrastructure,

-To demand full compliance with obligations under the international  humanitarian law, including those related to the protection of  civilians, in particular women and children, and critical civilian  infrastructure;

-To immediately deploy an interagency mission by the UN to  Nagorno-Karabakh with the aim to monitor and assess the human rights,  humanitarian and security situation.

-To ensure unimpeded access of the UN agencies and other  international organizations to Nagorno-Karabakh in line with the  humanitarian principles.

-To ensure full cooperation of the parties in good faith with the  International Committee of the Red Cross to address the consequences  of the military actions, including the removal and identification of  the bodies, search and rescue of personnel missing in action, release  of POWs, safe and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance, in  strict compliance with the international humanitarian law. 

-To ensure the return of persons displaced in the course of the  recent aggression, as well as persons and refugees displaced as a  result of 2020 war, to their homes in the territory of Nagorno-  Karabakh and adjacent regions under the monitoring and control of the  UN relevant agencies, as it was foreseen in the Trilateral Statement  of November 9, 2020.

-To ensure immediate restoration of vital supplies, including food,  medicine, fuel, gas and electricity.

-To demand the immediate restoration of freedom and security of  movement of persons, vehicles and cargo, along the Lachin corridor,  in line with the ICJ orders.

-To ensure a sustainable international mechanism of dialogue between  representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh and official Baku to address the  issues related to rights and security of the Armenians of  Nagorno-Karabakh.

-To demand exit of any Azerbaijani military and law-enforcement  bodies from all civilian settlements in Nagorno-Karabakh NK to  exclude panic, provocations and escalation, endangering civilian  population until the results of the negotiations.

-To exclude punitive action against Nagorno-Karabakh NK political and  military representatives and personnel.

-Create a possibility for a United Nations-mandated Peacekeeping  Force to keep stability and security in Nagorno- Karabakh.

Finally, 

Mr. President,

Dear colleagues,

Let me mention that today we celebrate the Day of Independence of the  Republic of Armenia and let me congratulate my compatriots on this  very important and symbolic occasion.  And I thank you."