United Nations A/75/792–S/2021/214
General Assembly Distr.: General 3 March 2021 Security Council Original: English
General Assembly Security Council Seventy-fifth session Seventy-sixth year Agenda items 34, 70, 71, 72, and 86
Prevention of armed conflict
Elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance
Right of peoples to self-determination
Promotion and protection of human rights
The rule of law at the national and international levels
Letter dated 2 March 2021 from the Permanent Representative of Armenia to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General
I am writing to you regarding Azerbaijan’s consistent attempts to distort the facts surrounding the events near the city of Agdam in February 1992 and to deny its own responsibility for the gross violations of international humanitarian law in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), which resulted in casualties among the civilian population. Over the years, the leadership of Azerbaijan has been exploiting the memory of the civilian victims of an isolated episode of the Nagorno-Karabakh war, in order to sustain and cultivate the toxic policy of promoting and inciting anti-Armenian hatred in Azerbaijan and beyond. By conducting its dehumanizing propaganda campaign against Armenians, the Azerbaijani side tries to conceal and whitewash its policy of launching, much earlier, the Armenian massacres in places far beyond the conflict zone, such as Sumgait, Kirovabad and Baku, as well as the mass murder of Armenian civilians in the village of Maragha. During the winter of 1991–1992, the armed forces of Azerbaijan, in violation of the Geneva Conventions, conducted deliberate shelling of the residential areas in Artsakh, which at that time had become a shelter for thousands of Armenian refugees fleeing the pogroms in Sumgait, Baku and other cities in Azerbaijan. While targeting the civilian areas, the Azerbaijani forces extensively used Khojalu village as one of the main firing points, from which the capital city Stepanakert came under continuous attacks, killing hundreds among the civilian population and causing a major humanitarian crisis. Azerbaijan’s violations include the systematic use of civilians as human shields, the lack of unified military command and the installation of refugees from Central Asia in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone. Detailed accounts of the
21-02910 (E) 080321 *2102910*
A/75/792 S/2021/214
events near Khojalu village and the town of Agdam have been provided over the years in communications from the Permanent Representative of Armenia addressed to the Secretary-General.1 In the letter dated 17 February 2021, the Permanent Representative of Azerbaijan recalls the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (case of Fatullayev v. Azerbaijan, application No. 40984/07, 22 April 2010), while erroneously presenting it as a judgment against the Armenian side. Such reasoning is flawed at best and intentionally deceptive at worst, not least because the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights has actually found Azerbaijan liable with regard to the violation of articles 6 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. First, the letter provides a distorted reference to article 87 of the judgment, which, in fact, states the following: “The Court accordingly considers that it is not its task to settle the differences in opinions about the historical facts relating to the Khojaly events. Therefore, without aiming to draw any definitive conclusions in that respect, the Court will limit itself to making the following observations, for the purposes of its analysis in the present case.” 2 Second, the Court refers to the existence of different opinions by noting: “For example, there are conflicting views as to whether a safe escape corridor was provided to the civilians fleeing their town … Likewise, there exist various opinions about the role and responsibility of the Azerbaijani authorities and military forces in these events … Questions have arisen whether the proper defence of the town had been organized and, if not, whether this was the result of a domestic political struggle in Azerbaijan.”3 Third, the claim by the Azerbaijani side that the judgment qualifies the behaviour of the self-defence forces of Nagorno-Karabakh as an act of particular gravity that may amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity is false. The exact quotation from the judgment, which aims at establishing conditions for Azerbaijani society to get fully informed about the events in Khojalu and Agdam, states: “Having regard to the above, the Court considers that various matters related to the Khojalu events still appear to be open to ongoing debate among historians, and as such should be a matter of general interest in modern Azerbaijani society. In this connection, the Court also reiterates that it is essential in a democratic society that a debate on the causes of acts of particular gravity which may amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity should be able to take place freely.” 4 Equally bizarre are the attempts to attribute to Armenia the numerous war crimes committed by Azerbaijan in the course of the pre-planned large-scale military aggression against the people of Artsakh unleashed on 27 September 2020, with the support of Turkey and the involvement of thousands of foreign terrorist fighters and mercenaries from the Middle East. The aggressive war amidst the global pandemic was accompanied by targeted and indiscriminate attacks on the civilian population and settlements, claim ing thousands of lives, leading to the displacement of tens of thousands of people, the destruction of critical civilian infrastructure, and the vandalism and desecration of Armenian Christian heritage in Artsakh. The photo and video materials glorifying torture, extrajudicial killings and atrocity crimes committed against captured
______1 For example, A/73/783-S/2019/211 and A/74/771-S/2020/242. 2 Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights on the case of Fatullayev v. Azerbaijan, application No. 40984/07, para. 87. 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid.
2/3 21-02910
A/75/792 S/2021/214
Armenian prisoners of war and civilian hostages have been widely disseminated in the Azerbaijani media and social networks and glorified at the highest political level. The violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law as a result of the recent aggression of Azerbaijan have been extensively elaborated in the letters of the Permanent Representative of Armenia to the United Nations, published as documents of the General Assembly and the Security Council. 5 I kindly request that the present letter be circulated as a document of the General Assembly, under agenda items 34, 70, 71, 72 and 86, and of the Security Council.
(Signed) Mher Margaryan Ambassador Permanent Representative
______5 See the letters from the Permanent Representative of Armenia to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General, A/75/356-S/2020/947 (27 September 2020), A/75/489-S/2020/974 (3 October 2020), A/75/496-S/2020/984 (5 October 2020), A/75/520-S/2020/990 (8 October 2020), A/75/544-S/2020/1035 (21 October 2020), A/75/566-S/2020/1073 (31 October 2020), A/75/586-S/2020/1093 (8 November 2020), A/75/644-S/2020/1191 (10 December 2020), A/75/693-S/2020/1307 (29 December 2020), A/75/694-S/2020/1313 (30 December 2020), A/75/710-S/2021/42 (13 January 2021) and A/75/739-S/2021/124 (9 February 2021).
21-02910 3/3