Armenia's latest report, which was published on the UN website, was fraudulent. Thus, a report on the so-called "Nagorno-Karabakh Republic" was posted on the site, which contains fraudulent information and changed historical facts. President of the International Eurasia Press Fund which is the main adviser of UN ECOSOC, Umud Mirzayev made a statement to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, President of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly, Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garza, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet. Eurasia Diary presents the full text of statement:
Statement by the International Eurasia Press Fund in connection with the placement of the report of the separatist regime of the unrecognized “Nagorno-Karabakh Republic” on the official UN website
The International Eurasia Press Fund (IEPF) expresses its deepest respect to You and urges to pay special attention to the placement of the report of the separatist regime of the unrecognized “Nagorno-Karabakh Republic” (“Artsakh Republic”) established in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan on the official website of the United Nations (UN). The report, dated February 14, 2019, submitted by the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Armenia to the UN Office in Geneva to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, contains falsified historical data with a number of distorted facts, including distortion of the essence of the UN resolutions, which in turn, contradicts the UN standards, all international standards and principles, and leads to another incitement of the conflict in the South Caucasus region.
We are very concerned and express our dissatisfaction with the action of the Armenian government, which uses its position and connections in the UN to provide documents prepared by the separatist regime of the self-proclaimed and unrecognized "Nagorno-Karabakh Republic" established in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and strongly condemn the placement of the document on the official UN website.
This is a shameful act to publish a report on behalf of the “Nagorno-Karabakh Republic” (“Republic of Artsakh”), among other UN documents, since the state called “Artsakh” has never existed and has never been recognized by any state as independent. This reaction, first of all, contradicts the official position of the UN on the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and four resolutions of the UN Security Council (822, 853, 874 and 884) adopted during the conflict, which require the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian Armed troops from Azerbaijani territories.
In the course of familiarization with the report, it becomes clear that it contains falsified information and statistical data that are totally wrong. This is evident from the first sentence, which states that the so-called “Nagorno-Karabakh Republic” is a sovereign state. It is noteworthy how a sovereign state which is being under the protection of the armed forces of Armenia, which is directly connected with Yerevan by social and economic ties, at the same time, which even does not have its own currency, can be called a sovereign republic?
It also notes that the so-called republic is governed by the rule of law. It's a lie. How can a regime that creates a sovereign state, using the armed forces of a third state, and the illegal occupation of the territory of a neighboring country, be governed by the rule of law? Since 1993, Nagorno-Karabakh and 7 surrounding regions of Azerbaijan, which are currently under Armenian occupation, have been using as a permanent place for gathering illegal terrorist and drug trafficking groups. Even the most primitive rights of the indigenous population are not protected. Armed forces in Nagorno-Karabakh often violate stability in the region.
The report states that the territory of the so-called “Artsakh Republic” constitutes an area of 12,493 km2, of which 1,041 km2 are currently under the occupation of Azerbaijan. This figure once again demonstrates the cunning policy of Armenia. The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, has been continuing since the end of the 1980s, and appeared as a result of the occupation by Armenia of Nagorno-Karabakh and 7 surrounding regions of Azerbaijan. The conflict has always had the official name as Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, not as Karabakh conflict. This means that the territorial claims of the Armenians since 1988 were connected with Nagorno-Karabakh, and not with Karabakh. Therefore, all international human rights organizations, UN, OSCE, EU, PACE and others, recognize the conflict as Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In the submitted report, the territories around Karabakh, in particular the 7 occupied regions of Azerbaijan, are represented as lands belonging to the so-called “Nagorno-Karabakh Republic”. The official territory of Nagorno-Karabakh is 4.4 thousand km2. Thus, the act of submitting this report by Armenia to the UN should be considered as a violation of international law and another territorial claim against Azerbaijan.
The information contained in the report reflects the official position and essence of Yerevan. For example, it is noted that the so-called regime has a multi-ethnic and multicultural society in which Russians, Ukrainians, Yezidis, Greeks and Georgians live. (This is less than 1% of the population of Karabakh). However, according to official statistics, more than 40,000 Azerbaijanis do not have the right to live in their homeland in Nagorno-Karabakh. This fact in the report once again proves that Armenia has deliberately pursued a policy of ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijanis in Karabakh and other historical lands of Azerbaijan since 1989. In the report, Azerbaijan is accused of ethnic cleansing against Armenians. In fact, at present, only in Baku, more than 30,000 Armenians live freely.
In the report, not only the distorted events of recent political history and the so-called statistical facts are provided, but also the events that occurred during the last 100 years, which are presented along with falsified facts. For example, it is indicated that in September 1918, about 30,000 Armenians were killed in Baku by military units of the Ottoman Empire. Of course, these facts are not based on historical documents. At the same time, it hides the fact that 50,000 Azerbaijanis and Jews were killed by Armenian military groups and Bolsheviks during the events in March 1918, in Baku, Ganja, Guba, Shamakhi, and in other cities.
The report also mentions the alleged demographic policy pursued by Heydar Aliyev in relation to the Armenians in Karabakh, during the Soviet time. However, it is well known that during the reign of Heydar Aliyev, several railways, factories and a university were opened in the city of Khankendi in Karabakh.
The report also distorted the essence of the resolutions adopted by the UN in relation to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, requiring the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian Armed Forces from the occupied Azerbaijani territory. Thus, this is a case when official UN resolutions are deliberately distorted and presented differently. The report says that the resolutions 822 and 853 were adopted during the fierce fighting, so they mostly called for a cease-fire. The report distorts the fact that the resolutions urge Armenia to liberate the occupied lands. In addition, the resolution 853 was also distorted in the report, stating that Azerbaijan was recommended to negotiate with the so-called Nagorno-Karabakh regime. However, in official resolutions, there is no such information. In addition, the official resolution 884 says that Armenia should use its influence on the Karabakh Armenians to help to resolve the conflict and prevent further escalation.
In the report, Azerbaijan is repeatedly accused of refusing refugees and IDPs to live in their native lands. Moreover, it is indicated that there are 30,000 Armenian refugees, of whom about 10,000 were forced to leave their homes as a result of the escalation of the conflict in 2014 and 2016. However, Armenia forgets about a million of internally displaced persons who appeared in Azerbaijan as a result of Armenian aggression and occupation, who still cannot return to their historical lands. In 1989, about 300,000 ethnic Azerbaijanis were forcibly deported from Armenia. Azerbaijan suffered enormous damage as a result of armed aggression. In the occupied territories of Azerbaijan there are more than 900 settlements and 150,000 apartments with a total area of 9.1 million m2, 4,366 social and cultural facilities, 7,000 public buildings, 2,389 industrial and agricultural facilities, 1,025 schools, 855 kindergartens, 4 sanatorium-resort complexes. As a result of the aggression, 798 medical institutions, 927 libraries, 1,510 cultural institutions, 598 communication facilities, more than 40,000 museum exhibits and others were destroyed. It is strange that Armenia itself, which is not recognizing the so-called “Nagorno-Karabakh Republic” as an independent state, calls on the world to recognize the independence of this separatist regime. Currently, the son of the Prime Minister of Armenia is doing military service in Karabakh and other occupied regions of Azerbaijan. Karabakh was occupied by Armenia, and this is an indisputable fact. Despite the fact that the Armenians tried to hide the fact of occupation in the UN report, it is clear from the above facts that they could not do it.
The International Eurasia Press Fund urges the UN structures, in particular the UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council, to carefully examine the placed report and remove it from the UN official website, since this is a real example when one state, Armenia, uses its position and membership in an organization to disseminate falsified information against another country, Azerbaijan. Such a position undermines the status of the UN and provokes a new escalation of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.