Statement by the Artsakh Foreign Ministry

Statement by the Artsakh Foreign Ministry on the 7th anniversary of the April four-day war ignited by Azerbaijan.

On the night of April 1-2, 2016, in gross violation of the 1994 agreement on the complete cessation of fire and military operations, Azerbaijani armed forces launched a large-scale attack against the Republic of Artsakh, utilizing their entire offensive arsenal, including heavy armored vehicles, artillery, and military aviation. The Azerbaijani military not only struck the frontline positions of the Artsakh Defense Army but also targeted border settlements, causing destruction and killing and wounding innocent civilians, including women and children.

During the April war, Azerbaijani armed forces also committed numerous atrocities and war crimes, particularly the brutal killings, beheadings, and mutilation of the bodies of Armenian prisoners of war and civilians. Those who carried out these brutal crimes were later rewarded by the highest leadership of Azerbaijan, and their crimes were glorified in Azerbaijani society and presented as exemplary behavior.

The April aggression once again revealed Azerbaijan's long-term goals to disrupt the peace process and resolve the conflict by force. Moreover, the impunity for Azerbaijan's criminal actions and the international community's tolerance towards their failure to fulfill obligations effectively prepared fertile ground and created opportunities for new provocations and aggression against Artsakh.

As a result, merely four years later, on September 27, 2020, Azerbaijan, with active support from Turkey and the involvement of international terrorist groups, unleashed a new large-scale war against Artsakh, occupying and subjecting significant parts of the territory of the Republic of Artsakh to ethnic cleansing.

Even today, in an atmosphere of complete impunity and indifference, Azerbaijan continues its aggressive and terrorist policy against the people of Artsakh, keeping around 120,000 residents of Artsakh under illegal blockade for nearly 4 months, regularly violating the ceasefire regime established by the Russian Federation on November 9, 2020, targeting both the personnel of the Artsakh Defense Army and the civilian population, capturing new territories and strategic heights, disrupting the functioning of the infrastructure that ensures the basic living conditions of the people of Artsakh.

The ongoing illegal actions of Azerbaijan against the people of Artsakh show that the authorities of that country have no intention of fulfilling their international obligations and are pursuing a systematic policy of depopulation and occupation of Artsakh.

Once again, we call on the international community, especially the UN Security Council, to take immediate and effective steps to prevent the ethnic cleansing and genocidal policies carried out by Azerbaijan against the people of Artsakh and to establish mechanisms and guarantees for ensuring normal living conditions in Artsakh before achieving a comprehensive resolution of the conflict. In this context, we emphasize the importance of international recognition of the right to self-determination exercised by the people of Artsakh, which is a necessary prerequisite for ensuring their rights, security, and peaceful development.