Artsakh MFA made a statement, which we have included below for you.
“On the night of June 27-28, 2023, the armed forces of Azerbaijan, grossly violating the ceasefire regime and the provisions of the tripartite declaration of November 9, 2020, attacked the positions of the Defense Army of the Republic of Artsakh with the use of artillery and attack UAV. Four servicemen of the Defense Forces of the Republic of Artsakh were killed on the facilities located deep in the territory of Artsakh.
The usual attempts of the Azerbaijani side to blame the Artsakh side for those strikes are baseless. This is also evidenced by the words of the Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan, who stated in an interview on June 26, just two days before the mentioned attack, that the Armed Forces of Artsakh do not pose any threat to Azerbaijan while threatening to carry out a military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh with the forces of one corps. The Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan has admitted that his country is the aggressor and is militarizing the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict zone.
This unprovoked attack, which resulted in human casualties, showed that Azerbaijan had not abandoned its plans to resolve the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict by military force. The strikes carried out by the Azerbaijani armed forces on the territory of Artsakh on June 28, as well as the shootings and attacks on civilians that took place before that, are an obvious manifestation of the genocidal policy consistently implemented by Azerbaijan, which it consistently implements in the absence of resistance from the international community.
Once again, we draw the international community’s attention to the fact that for about 200 days, Artsakh has been under a complete blockade, which is becoming increasingly strict and inhumane. The population of the republic is deprived of gas and electricity supplies. During the last 14 days, Azerbaijan has wholly blocked the humanitarian cargo transportation to the Republic of Artsakh, carried out by the Russian peacekeeping troops and the International Committee of the Red Cross in a restricted mode over the last six months.
The Azerbaijani authorities do not even hide their intention of ethnic cleansing. The president of that country has publicly stated this many times. The statement of the Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan on June 26 that those residents of Artsakh who do not want to recognize the power of Baku should leave their homeland is another proof of Baku’s real goals for Artsakh and its people.
We also draw attention to the fact that, as had already happened many times before or during important meetings, the attack on June 28 took place against the background of the next round of negotiations between the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, which started yesterday in Washington, reaffirming that Baku is trying to use coercion. , including imposing its ultimatum and superstitious demands on the Armenian side using military force.
The fact that Baku is not ready to participate in the negotiations in good faith is also evident from the statements made by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan in an interview with Reuters on June 23, 2023. In particular, he rejected the idea of international guarantees of the rights and security of the people of Artsakh because it is an internal matter of Azerbaijan. By trying to present the settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict, including the issue of ensuring the rights and security of the people of Artsakh, as an internal matter of Azerbaijan, the authorities of that country are trying to legitimize their plans for the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh. Such statements also prove that Baku seeks to defeat the efforts of international actors to create conditions for a peaceful and comprehensive settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict.
In this context, the statement made by the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan a few days before the armed attack, as if that country is ready to provide assistance to the people of Artsakh, is a manifestation of extreme cynicism. The best help that Azerbaijan can provide is the continuous maintenance of the ceasefire regime, the termination of the transport and energy blockade of the Republic of Artsakh, as well as the full implementation of the provisions of the Trilateral Declaration of November 9, 2020, and the decision of the United Nations International Court of Justice of February 22, 2023. which refers to free, safe, and unhindered traffic in both directions through the Lachine Corridor.
It should be noted that deliberately causing suffering to the 120,000 people of Artsakh and deepening the humanitarian crisis due to the complete blockade of the Lachin Corridor is, according to international law, tantamount to a war crime. We emphasize again that the international community in general, and all international actors involved in the peace process in particular, as well as the OSCE, The co-chairing countries of the Minsk Group, are directly responsible.
To prevent the further deepening of the humanitarian and security crisis in Artsakh, as well as to ensure a peaceful and comprehensive settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict based on international norms and principles and to ensure lasting peace and stability in the region.
In this regard, we insist once again that the latter should use all the levers and tools of pressure at their disposal to ensure that Azerbaijan observes all the provisions of the Trilateral Declaration of November 9, 2020, and the International Court of Justice of the United Nations of February 22, 2023. the immediate execution of a legally binding decision”.
