Cluster missiles utilized by Armenia: Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch

Rome [ENA] The 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War is an ongoing armed conflict between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces for possession of the Caucasus Nagorno Karabakh region. The first war activities began on the morning of September 27, 2020 along the Artsakh line of contact. Despite all the pain and sorrow of war, the crimes and injustices committed against the Azerbaijani civilians during

both during I and II Karabakh Wars by the Armenian authorities, Azerbaijan has not allowed the conflict to hamper its exemplary model of multi-faith harmony, tolerance, and acceptance. Over 20,000 Armenians continue to peacefully live in Baku. There is an Armenian cathedral at the centre of Baku, which is preserved by the Azerbaijani government. Azerbaijan considers the people of different ethnic, religious backgrounds its national asset. Human Rights Watch has verified the use of banned cluster missiles by Armenia in the current Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, following an attack on the city of Barda in Azerbaijan, said the statement released by the organization.

Human Rights Watch has verified the use of banned cluster missiles by Armenia in the current Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, following an attack on the city of Barda in Azerbaijan, said the statement released by the organization. “Armenian forces either fired or supplied internationally banned cluster munitions and at least one other type of long-range rocket used in an attack on Barda city, 230 kilometers west of Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku on October 28, 2020”. The attack reportedly killed at least 21 civilians and wounded at least another 70. Human Rights Watch analyzed photos of cluster munition remnants taken by international and local journalists and residents at and near the attack scene. It identified two of the weapons as a Smerch

cluster munition rocket and a Smerch parachute-retarded high-explosive fragmentation rocket,” the statement said. “There’s a reason these brutal weapons are banned by an international treaty, and using them in a city center shows flagrant disregard for civilian life and international law,” said Belkis Wille, senior crisis and conflict researcher at Human Rights Watch. Since September 27, 90 civilians were killed as a result of the Armenian terror in Azerbaijan, Prosecutor General Kamran Aliyev told journalists in Barda. "Such actions of Armenia will be given a response and sooner or later they will be brought to justice.

Prosecutor General Kamran Aliyev

This terrorist act committed in Azerbaijan is connected with the success of the country`s army in the battles in Nagorno-Karabakh. Every time Azerbaijan succeeds in the war, the Armenian government orders its army to commit terror against our civilians," he said. On October 29, heads of the diplomatic corps, ambassadors, military attachés and heads of representations of international organizations in Azerbaijan visited Barda to familiarize themselves with the traces of the crime in the city that was hit by Armenia’s missiles.

According to historic documents, Armenians were settled in South Caucasus, especially in Karabakh by the Tsarist Russia in order to implement its imperialistic “divide et impera” policy. There are two historic documents providing evidence that Armenians are not native to South Caucasus and were resettled in this geography. Kurakchay Treaty which was signed by the Khan of Karabakh and Shusha Ibrahim khalil khan and general of Tsarist Russia Pavel Tsitsianov on May 14, 1805 is the most important archival document in this regard. No single word about Armenians was mentioned in this document. (https://www.virtualkarabakh.az/en/post-item/32/52/kurakchay-treaty.html)

Another document of great historic importance is Turkmanchay Treaty of 1828 signed between Persian Empire and Tsarist Russia, stipulated the resettlement of Armenians in the present-day Azerbaijani territories by its Article 15. Even Russian sources say that Armenians were brought in the west Azerbaijani lands only in the 19 th century. They show that the settlement of Armenians in the regions of Nakhchivan, Irevan and Karabakh was related to the Turkmenchay Treaty.