Vahram Atanesyan, a former member of the Central Committee of Armenia and Artsakh National Assembly, wrote on his Facebook page.
“What kind of impiety is this? This is the third time Azerbaijan accuses Armenia of “refusing to find out the fate of 4,000 missing Azerbaijanis” in the first war. Is there no proper body in this country to shut them up? Is the N.S.S. of Artsakh unaware that during the first war, a commission was established on prisoners and missing persons in the following years, and Azerbaijan and the NKR dealt directly with these issues in cooperation? They don’t know whether to authorize Albert Voskanyan to make relevant comments; he worked with the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan on behalf of NKR NSS.
As far as I know, Namik Abbasov is still alive; let him be invited to Baku to explain what and how he discussed with NKR colleagues. Baku provides a unique opportunity for Stepanakert to publish the May 12, 1994, ceasefire agreement and all the subsequent Azerbaijan-NKR agreements signed by the Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan with the commander of the NKR Defense Army.
Who will ask why Azerbaijan has never tried to find out the fate of its “missing persons” for nearly thirty years and now only remembers them – first? Second, during the first war, a humanitarian ceasefire agreement was reached between Azerbaijan and the NKR several times. Why didn’t Baku carry out “sanitary” searches during that time? Did it not evacuate the bodies of its killed service members from the places of combat operations? Thirdly, the NKR Defense Ministry collected the debt, buried the bodies of the Azerbaijani soldiers, and mapped the burial places.
Finally, if you have any questions, contact the official Stepanakert, recognized internationally and under your signature as a warring party. Should I say this, or the bodies belonging to Artsakh, the political class, or the highest representative body of the people of Artsakh, the National Assembly? Every day, Baku weaves a trick. Tomorrow they will say that the fate of missing persons is also a humanitarian issue, and until this is settled, no way will be opened. We still need to figure out what kind of multi-headed monster we’re dealing with.
P.S. I am appealing to you, media outlets of Armenians in Armenia, in Artsakh, and Spurs: you don’t care about the authorities, we understand, but it is about the reputation of the country, the Motherland; why don’t you blow up the Internet with accurate information that of the 4,000 “missing persons” mentioned by Baku, more than half were killed for Omar and Kelbajar during the failure of the “Great Winter Offensive” operation, personally designed by the national leader of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev, and the remnants of the Azerbaijani army left their dead unburied in the snow while raiding Ganja through the Dashkesan Pass. And if their relatives have shelter, let them surround Ilham Aliyev’s residence. The father must have passed on the documents of that disaster to his son. Let him have the courage to publish and give the answer to his people. What did they attach to Armenia?
P.P.S. If Stepanakert fears that the publication of the documents signed between Azerbaijan and the NKR in 1993, 1994-1995 will bring political dividends to the former commander of the Armed Forces and they do not make the facts public due to this caution, then it is a disaster.
P.P.P.S. To my F.B. friends, social media, and decent media, please present this post in Russian, English, Turkish, and Farsi as much as possible. And I advise Hikmet Hajiyev, assistant to the President of Azerbaijan, to read the book “Essays on the Karabakh War” by Azerbaijani researcher Mamed Velimamedov. The failure of the Omar-Kelbajar operation and the enormous human losses are told there with the living testimonies of the surviving service members.
