By Grant Pogosyan
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The aggression was indeed pre-planned well in advance and any reference by the Azerbaijani side to "counterattack" is utterly false. Azerbaijan never hide its strategic goal to resolve the NK conflict by using force, keeping the tension high along the line of contact and the Armenian-Azerbaijani state border. On a number of occasions, the Azerbaijani president has publicly denounced the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs aimed at the peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, thus openly resorting to war. Moreover, even during the ongoing Azerbaijani offensive, they kept the same provocative behaviour. From Sept. 27, there have been four attempts to agree ceasefire in the ongoing war but all of them have been breached by Azerbaijan which clearly shows that they are the attacking side and they intentionally violate those four agreements reached in Moscow on Oct. 10, in Paris on Oct. 17, in Washington on Oct. 25 and in Geneva on Oct. 30. Certainly, there are number of other reasons that show that Azerbaijan has been consistently making war efforts.
First, Azerbaijan closed down the transit air corridors for the months of August and September despite the absence of any threat to civilian air traffic. On the state borders of Armenia as well as along the line of contact, Azerbaijan as well as Turkey have been carrying out provocative flights.
Second, since Sept. 21, Azerbaijan started drafting reservists and confiscating civilian trucks for military needs.
Third, on Sept. 25, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence rejected the request of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office to organize a Ceasefire Monitoring along the line of contact.
Fourth, there have been credible reports of recruiting Foreign Terrorist Fighters from those parts of Syria which are under control of Turkish militaries, to be used in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and as of today the international community (Russia, France, USA etc.) as well as leading international media (BBC, Reuters etc.) confirmed that Turkey transferred terrorists from Syria as well as from Libya to fight against Nagorno-Karabakh. There are also terrorists from Syria captured by Artsakh military forces in Nagorno-Karabakh and interviews with them reveals many details on how Turkey has been transferring terrorists from Syria to the conflict zone.
Fifth, from the early morning on Sept. 27 Azerbaijani authorities blocked social networks and media outlets. On top of that, Turkish media representatives have been present at the conflict zone from the outset of the attack, which also came to prove that they knew about the offensive in advance.
Sixth, the preparation to this aggression was accompanied by large-scale military exercises by Azerbaijan and Turkey. From July 29 to Aug. 10, large-scale Azerbaijan-Turkey joint military exercises were held in Baku, Nakhichevan, Ganja, Kurdamir and Yevlakh. The exercises involved thousands of military personnel, hundreds of armoured combat vehicles, artillery and military aviation, including UAVs. After the military exercise, Turkish military personnel and equipment remained stationed in Azerbaijan. Also, since July aggression of Azerbaijan on the state border with Armenia, Turkey has been openly supporting Azerbaijan's military activities against Armenia and justifying the use of force. And in today's war as well, Turkey unilaterally and unreservedly supports Azerbaijan both politically and on the ground. There are several reports confirming that Turkey has deployed 1,200 special forces to the Artsakh front, has used and is still using F-16 jets etc. Turkey has also closed its airspace for transporting humanitarian cargo for Armenia.
It is also noteworthy to mention that in this war Azerbaijan is targeting civilian settlements, infrastructure and schools, including in the capital city of Stepanakert, the cities of Shushi, Martakert, Martuni and others. According to the data provided by the staff of the Artsakh Human Rights Ombudsman, as for now, there are more than 50 casualties among civilians in Artsakh, including women and children, a total of 122 people have been wounded, of which 102 received serious injuries. 150 peaceful settlements of the Artsakh Republic are severely damaged, in particular, 13,800 private immovable property, 2,100 private movable property, 3,100 infrastructures, public and industrial objects. More than 90,000 people (60 percent of the population of Artsakh) have had to leave their homes.
As the above-mentioned shows, the leadership of Azerbaijan bears full responsibility for the consequences of their pre-planned aggression and destabilization of the regional security. Armenia strongly condemns the Azerbaijani aggression backed by Turkey. This is in flagrant violation of international law, including humanitarian law. It violates the 1994 trilateral ceasefire agreement and commitments undertaken by Azerbaijan within context of NK peace process on non-use of force.
Armenia calls on the international community to strongly condemn the aggression of Azerbaijan and reiterate that the conflict has no military solution. The people of Artsakh have the full right for self-determination and the world has already entered into the process of recognizing that right in Nagorno-Karabakh. During the last month many regions and cities have recognized the independence of Artsakh Republic including the state of Michigan, USA, the Lombardy region in Italy, cities of Milan, Geneva etc.
Armenia, as the security guarantor of Artsakh, will continue to take all necessary measures to protect the Nagorno-Karabakh people and to deliver a proportionate response to the aggressor. At the same time, Armenia stands ready to cooperate closely with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to restore and preserve the regional peace and security.
Grant Pogosyan is the Armenian Ambassador to Japan. He doubles as the envoy to Korea. The views expressed in the above article, written on Nov. 8, are the author's own and do not reflect the editorial direction of The Korea Times.
