Baku, Azerbaijan, May 24
By Elmira Tariverdiyeva – Trend:
While terrorism by ISIS engulfs the Middle East, Armenian aggression against US ally Azerbaijan is largely neglected, reads the article published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the US online newspaper.
“May 18 marks the 25th anniversary of occupation of Lachin district of Azerbaijan,” the article said. “After occupying the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan on May 18, 1992, the Armenian units attacked and ethnically cleansed the city of Lachin, subsequently destroying hundreds of cultural facilities monuments. More than 63,341 Azerbaijani citizens living in 121 villages of Lachin district were driven out their homes as a result of the occupation. As per official statistics, 267 residents of Lachin were killed during the occupation.”
District after district followed suit after Lachin’s occupation, resulting in the displacement of nearly 750,000 Azerbaijani civilians, according to the article.
Following the ceasefire agreement of May 1994, Armenians started an illegal mass resettlement program relocating Armenians from Armenia and abroad to Lachin district in order to change the demographic situation, reads the article.
According to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), as of April 2011, Armenians have illegally resettled 14,000 persons of Armenian origin to occupied Lachin district against all accepted international laws and norms, including the Article 49 of the 1949 Geneva Convention forbidding the “occupying power” to transfer parts of its own civilian population into occupied territories, the article said.
For justice to prevail, the US must exert pressure on Armenia to comply with UN Security Council resolutions and remove all Armenian military forces illegally stationed in Azerbaijan, allow return of Azerbaijani displaced persons back to their homes and condemn Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan, according to the article.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.