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Armenia turns deserter’s family transferred by Azerbaijan into propaganda (UPDATE)

Politics Materials 15 December 2014 15:30 (UTC +04:00)
Armenia is using deserter Gevorgyan’s family for propaganda purposes, acting spokesman for the Azerbaijani foreign ministry Hikmet Hajiyev told Trend Dec. 15.

details added (first version posted at 14:45)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 15

By Seba Aghayeva - Trend:

Armenia is again using deserter Gevorgyan's family for propaganda purposes, acting spokesman for the Azerbaijani foreign ministry Hikmet Hajiyev told Trend Dec. 15.

"Armenia has again turned deserter Gevorgyan's family transferred by Azerbaijan into the propaganda beyond any moral, ethical, legal and human standards," he said.

"Gevorgyan's family fled to Azerbaijan to move to the third country four years ago to escape from the tyranny, cruelty and extreme poverty in Armenia," he said. "Other countries refused to accept this family in connection with the head of the family Yeghishe Gevorgyan's previous conviction. During the stay in Azerbaijan, the family was provided with housing, food and other necessary things. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) representatives regularly visited them. They were always satisfied with their conditions and appreciated Azerbaijan's humane attitude."

Hajiyev said that medical examination conducted in Armenia also confirmed that Gevorgyan's family is healthy.

"It is obvious that after Gevorgyan and his family members were transferred to Armenia, they were forced to give public testimony as a result of the Armenian special services' threats, physical and psychological pressure degrading human dignity," he said. "The worst thing is that Armenia does not hesitate to use this family's children in its dirty propaganda."

"Armenian citizens transferred earlier have also been tortured, held in the prisons of the special services," he said. "Unfortunately, Gevorgyan's family also faced such a tragedy."

He urged the international community and human rights activists not to remain indifferent to such inhuman actions of Armenia, as well as to the fate of more than 4,000 Azerbaijanis, who are considered to be missing as a result of Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan.

He also urged to pay attention to the fate of compatriots Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev, who were tortured and against whom the "trial" was organized.

The Armenian family which illegally crossed to the territory of Azerbaijan on Jan.10, 2010, was handed over to the Armenian side by Azerbaijan on Dec. 12, the State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing People of Azerbaijan said earlier.

Yegishe Gevorgyan (born 1958) and his wife Ruzanna Mardanyan (born 1982) with three children - Alfred (born 2002), Gayane (born 2003) and Petros (born 2006) - voluntarily crossed the Armenian-Azerbaijani border by car in order to move to a third country on January 10, 2010.

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 two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.

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Seba Aghayeva is deputy head of Trend Agency's Azerbaijani news service, follow her on Twitter: @Asebaa

edited by CN

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