Friday, June 7 2024 11:38

ArmInfo.The Artsakh Union has launched an advertisement campaign challenging COP29 host Azerbaijan  to fulfill its alleged vision of a "COP of Peace" by releasing its political prisoners.

The campaign comes amid the opening week of the  Bonn Climate Change Conference, where experts set the agenda for the  prestigious COP meetings that will bring together world leaders in  Baku later this year.  According to the Union of Artsakh, the  challenging advertisements come after Hikmet Hajiyev-foreign policy  adviser to the Azerbaijani president, Ilham Aliyev-told media in May  that the country was eager to make "COP29 a COP of peace." That claim  has been widely rebuked, with experts pointing to the government's  genocidal actions taken against ethnic Armenians and long- standing  record of human rights violations.  "The Aliyev regime of Azerbaijan  continues to detain Armenian political prisoners and hostages,  destroy our cultural heritage and property under their occupation,  systematically promote anti-Armenian ethnic hatred and block the  return of the forcibly displaced Artsakh people to their homes. These  actions, along with other international and domestic crimes,  exemplify their ongoing genocidal policy against the Artsakh people.  Our efforts aim to raise international awareness about the Aliyev  regime's continuous violations and the urgent need to release our  illegally detained leaders and compatriots. The international  community must not allow the Aliyev regime to mislead and distract  them with COP 29 and evade accountability for their perpetrated  genocide and continuous violations," said Artak Beglaryan, president  of the Artsakh Union and former state minister of Artsakh.  The  Artsakh Union is a grassroots organization created by citizens of  Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), an unrecognized state that was invaded by  Azerbaijan in September 2023, causing the entire population of  120,000 indigenous Armenians to flee. Amid the aggression,  Azerbaijani officials also arrested eight Armenian political leaders  of Artsakh, a group that remains illegally detained and hostage in  Baku and awaiting news on their trial date. The political prisoners  include international philanthropist and humanitarian Ruben  Vardanyan, who recently ended a 21-day hunger strike to protest their  illegal detainment, increasingly worsening imprisonment conditions,  and limited access to due process in an opaque legal system.  Juan  Mendez, the United Nations' first Special Adviser on the Prevention  of Genocide reviewed these actions, solemnly confirming that  "genocide has been committed against ethnic Armenians in  Nagorno-Karabakh, but the danger of more suffering of this kind is by  no means over. The international community still bears a  responsibility to act to protect this population from further harm."  The United Nations' International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered  Azerbaijan to uphold the right of return for ethnic Armenians,  instructing the country to "take all necessary measures to prevent  and punish acts of vandalism and desecration affecting Armenian  cultural heritage, including but not limited to churches and other  places of worship, monuments, landmarks, cemeteries and artifacts"  following its invasion last year. Despite these orders, recent  satellite images show destruction of Armenian cultural heritage sites  and residential buildings, prompting widespread concerns.  Pressure  continues to grow on Azerbaijan from the international community in  the lead up to COP29, otherwise known as the Conference of the  Parties, which will be held this November in Baku. In a April  resolution, the EU reaffirmed that "the ongoing human rights  violations in Azerbaijan are incompatible with the country's  preparations to host COP29." U.S. senators have also called for the  release of Armenian political leaders held in Azerbaijan, with  several members of congress sending a follow-up letter raising  concerns in mid-May. French senators have also put forth resolutions  proposing sanctions against Azerbaijan for its actions in  Nagorno-Karabakh.  The Bonn Climate Change Conference, which started  on June 3, has driven additional backlash against the Azeri  government, including from the Lemkin Institute for Genocide  Prevention, which published a statement criticizing Azerbaijan for  touting a "COP of Peace" while carrying out genocidal actions.   Today, Azerbaijan sits below Saudi Arabia and Iran in Freedom House's  annual Freedom of the World report, currently scoring just 7 out of  100 points. The country also ranks 164th out of 180 in Reporters  Without Borders' 2024 Press Freedom Index, worse than Venezuela and  Turkey.