Ministry of Agriculture calls on international partners

The Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Azerbaijan firmly condemn the military actions longed by the Republic of Armenia against the Republic of Azerbaijan. As the result of continuous indiscriminate shelling of civilian population in towns and cities in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, 31 civilians, including three children have lost their lives, and 168 civilians have sustained injuries.

Almost 30 years of illegal occupation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and adjacent provinces of Azerbaijan and current ongoing military provocation of armed forces of the The Republic of Armenia violates the United Nations Security Council Resolutions 822, 853, 874, 884 of 1993, which recognize the Nagorno-Karabakh region and adjacent provinces as an integral part of Azerbaijan and demand the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the armed forces of Armenia from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and return of more than one million refugees and IDPs to their homes.

Agriculture is one of Azerbaijan's leading drivers, where a significant share of employment is created. Armenian's aggression impacted over 30% of arable lands of Azerbaijan, interrupted food production and off-farm economies, which create jobs

and ensure rural development. Such illegal actions restrict farmers ability to feed their families, live a decent and safe life, and is a source of an imminent threat to the regional food security, taking into consideration the worldwide challenges on the establishment of a resilient food security system as the main task during the COVID-19 global outbreak situation.

The aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan takes place during the busy harvesting season caused severe threats to unique and well known Karabakh purebred horses, perished more than 500 ruminants, burned down fodder reserves of the farmers, restricted harvesting of tens of thousands of hectares of cultivated lands, completely destroyed many agricultural types of machinery and demolished irrigation systems. Affecting lives of more than hundreds of thousands of farmers, this conflict leads to substantial losses to the agricultural sector of Azerbaijan.

All of the mentioned war crime acts by Armenia are clear evidence of a violation of international norms and obligations under global strategies, such as human rights, as well as UN SDGs, FAO and EU strategies on agriculture and food security which are rests on the norms of international law.

The Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Azerbaijan appeals to its international development partners to strongly condemn the military escalations provoked by the Republic of Armenia, which leads to severe humanitarian catastrophe, imposes an the unprecedented threat to agriculture-based livelihoods undermines food security and agrobiodiversity of not only in Azerbaijan but of the region as a whole.