Early in the morning on 27 September, Azerbaijan violated the ceasefire and initiated large-scale air and artillery attacks along the whole border-line, resulting in severe casualties and considerable damage to the civilian population of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) in Martakert, Martuni, Stepanavan as well as other cities and villages. Vardenis community of Gegharkunik region of the Republic of Armenia also came under large-caliber artillery shelling of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani aggressive actions resulted in tens of people dead, including one child, as well as hundreds of wounded.

Azerbaijan has indiscriminately targeted civilian infrastructure, including schools and houses, which have been bombarded creating a real threat to the life and health of women, children, and the whole population of Artsakh.

Azerbaijani military aggression is a clear manifestation of gross violations of human rights that directly violates Geneve Conventions and customary International Humanitarian Law. Moreover, the involvement of a large number of military forces and military arsenal by Azerbaijan as well as other evidences proved that this attack was scrupulously planned in advance and with the participation and support of Turkey.

Among the reasons for these military actions is the regime of the government of Azerbaijan. Particularly, in 2012 Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev won the first ever Organized Crime and Corruption Person of the Year bestowed by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).[1] One of the reasons for the choice was that in 2012, new revelations emerged about how Alieyv’s family had taken large shares in lucrative industries including the telecom, minerals, and construction industries often through government-related deals.

Then, in 2017, Azerbaijan again appeared in the international corruption scandal in Malta. All these facts substantiate the objective version that war actions unleashed by Azerbaijan in Artsakh aimed to deflect the attention of the Azerbaijani people and the international community from corruption scandals and the regime of government in Azerbaijan.

The CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia expresses its support to the authorities of Artsakh and Armenian to support the security of the people of Artsakh by all possible means, to protect human rights, to stop the unbridled aggression, and to restore peace.

We, the representatives of the civil society of Armenia, strictly condemn the hostilities of Azerbaijani military and political leadership against Artsakh and call upon the international community – the UN, EU, OSCE, Co-Chairs of Minsk Group, Council of Europe, and other interested international organizations to immediately take effective measures to stop Azerbaijani military attacks against Artsakh and resume negotiations aiming at a peaceful settlement of the problem and restore of regional stability.

Note: The CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia was founded on 28 November 2014 in Yerevan within the framework of the EU-funded “Multi-Faceted Anti-Corruption Promotion” project. The Coalition currently has 71 civil society organizations, and the secretariat is run by the Armenian Lawyers’ Association.

CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia

” 27 ” September 2020

[1] https://www.occrp.org/en/poy/2012/?fbclid=IwAR1lrum0oG4oVglVLQbuH1E-koG01xRrBBXz8QOMRH0Wr58D1zh4OdexbRc