NGOs appeal to co-chairs and international organizations

A group of NGOs appealed to the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs Stephane Visconti (France), Andrew Shofer (USA), Igor Popov (Russia), and international organizations regarding the illegal resettlement of the Armenian population by Armenia in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.

Report says the text reads:

According to our observations, Armenia is making attempts to illegally resettle the Armenian population from some Middle Eastern countries to Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent Azerbaijan districts, which are internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan. 

The aggressor-Armenia's illegal activities in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh and our adjacent territories and the unlawful settlement policy are discussed among many Azerbaijani NGOs. So, we decided to have an appeal to international organizations.

It is not the first time Armenia, using the situation in the region for its disgusting purposes, has attempted to illegally resettle the Armenian population from some Middle Eastern countries to Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent districts of Azerbaijan, which are internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan. This process has started from the time of Tsarist Russia, accelerated during the Bolsheviks-Soviet period, and continuing nowadays. 

The fact of illegal settlement carried out by Armenia is also recorded in the reports of the OSCE fact-finding missions of 2005. OSCE has sent fact-finding missions to the occupied lands twice, and the information of these missions approved organized resettlement of Armenians to Karabakh. Furthermore, the majority of our historical and religious monuments have been destroyed by Armenia. Our mosques, graves have been destroyed, and our museums have been ravaged," he added. Azerbaijan restored an Armenian church in Baku and kept more than 5,000 books in the Armenian language. It is the difference: their actions and our attitude.

Of course, Armenia's actions are a gross violation of international humanitarian law, as well as the 1949 Geneva Convention and its additional protocols.The occupier-Armenia's goal is to artificially increase the number of Armenians in these lands, change the ethnic and cultural characteristics of the territories, and thereby carry out a policy of annexation. According to the Rome Statute, which regulated the International Criminal Court, it is also a war crime.

These facts are not raised only by the Azerbaijani side. According to Any Meljumyan, from Euriasianet.org, an international analytical platform, following a devastating explosion in Beirut, the Armenian government prepared an aid package to help ethnic Armenians in Lebanon emigrate to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. More than 1,300Lebanese-Armenians have flown to Armenia and Karabakh as of September 2; 850 intend to stay long-term, Chief Commissioner of Diaspora issues ZarehSinanyan told the news website Hetq.

On September 1, 2020, Armenia's government began considering an aid plan to assist repatriated from Lebanon, Sinanyan said. The package would include health, education, and social assistance and housing support, he said.

Several more Lebanese-Armenian families have moved to Nagorno-Karabakh, according to the "leader" of separatists, ArayikHarutyunyan. The authorities have allocated 25 million drams ($50,000) and 17 million drams ($35,000) from another humanitarian fund to help the resettlement.

Azerbaijani officials have objected to the resettlement to Karabakh, an internationally recognized part of Azerbaijan.

The fact of illegal resettlement is also proved by Armenian ordinary migrant families, which are organizing resettled to Karabakh by the Armenian government. It is quite possible that this family even didn't know that their movement to Karabakh, organized by the Armenian Republic, is entirely illegal and contradicts all related international humanitarian law rules.

Several NGOs in Azerbaijan appeal to the international community to help stop this illegal process and violate international humanitarian law and commit war crimes by the Armenian Republic. OSCE Minsk Group of Co-Chairs should immediately react to the operation of the illicit resettlement of Armenians to the Nagorno-Karabakh occupied region of Azerbaijan.

We, several NGOs in Azerbaijan, appeal to the international community to help stop this illegal process and violation of international humanitarian law and commit war crimes by Armenian Republic. OSCE Minsk Group of Co-Chairs should immediately react to Armenians' illicit resettlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh occupied region of Azerbaijan.

1. Mr. RamilIsgandarli – Head of the Legal Analysis and Research Public Union
2. Mr. VugarAhmadov – Head of the Azerbaijani-American Youth Association       
3. Mr. AyazMirzayev – Head of the Azerbaijan Journalists Network Public Union
4. Ms. Shalala Hasanova – Head of the "Support to the Development of Public Relations" Public Union
5. Mr. SabuhiAbbasov – Head of the Azerbaijani-Slavic Youth Association Public Union
6. Ms. NushabaMammadova – Head of the International Dialogue and Development Alliance Public Union
7. Ms. IradaRizazade – Head of the Public Association "Social Welfare for the Citizens"
8. Ms. ShahlaNagiyeva – Head of the "Unquenchable Flame" Cultural Relations Public Union
9. Mr. FakhraddinHasanzada – Head of the "Youth Education Center" Public Union 
10. Ms. Maryam Taghiyeva - Zeynalova – Integration of Azerbaijani Youth to Europe Organization Public Union 
11. Ms. Maryam Majidova – Head of the National Assembly of Youth Organizations of the Republic of Azerbaijan Public Union 
12. Mr. UmudMirzayev – Head of the International Eurasia Press Fund 
13. Mr. FuadHuseynzade – Head of the Journalists' Support for Diaspora Activities Public Union
14. Ms. Novella Jafarova – Head of the Association for the Protection of Women's Rights named after Dilara Aliyeva
15. Ms. SaadatBananyarli – Head of the Azerbaijan National Section of International Society for Human Rights Public Union
16. Mr. FaridShahbazli – Head of the Young Reformers Public Union of Azerbaijan 
17. Ms. SaidaGojamanli – Head of the "Public Union for the Protection of Human Rights and Law Order"
18. Mr. ToghrulAllahverdili – Head of the Diaspora Information and Awareness Public Union
19. Mr. FuadAbbasov – Head of the "Misra" Information Exchange and Initiatives Public Union
20. Mr. Ahmad Aliyev – Head of the Youth Public Union for Democratic Azerbaijan