“The presence of Russian peacekeeping forces in Artsakh implies that the Azerbaijani armed forces must refrain from violations, but they regularly target Armenian positions and settlements. Yesterday in the Taghavard community of Martuni region, a shot from the Azerbaijani side hit the house of one of the residents and broke the glass of the bedroom where a minor is sleeping,” the Human Rights Defender of Artsakh Gegham Stepanyan said at a briefing on September 8. According to him, Azeris violate the ceasefire from Shushi almost every day, firing in the direction of Shosh and Mkhitarashen.
“Therefore, it is not reasonable to assume that the replacement of the Azerbaijani troops with the Azerbaijani border guards will cause them to refrain from such actions. International mechanisms should be used to establish where such incidents come from. Only in such a case will the ceasefire violations be ruled out, which civilians primarily suffer from.” Gegham Stepanyan said that today, 28 settlements of Artsakh are very close to the Azerbaijani positions.
“It is about a distance of 150 meters to one and a half kilometers. Azerbaijani positions should be removed from peaceful settlements so that Azeris do not have the opportunity to observe and target them. Provocations have two main purposes. The first is to spread an atmosphere of fear and despair. It is a policy of ethnic cleansing. They intend to make Armenians emigrate from Artsakh. The fact that the President of Azerbaijan speaks about the decrease in the number of Armenians in Artsakh shows this. The other goal is to reduce the effectiveness of Russian peacekeepers, which will later be a basis for Azerbaijan to insist that Russian peacekeepers be expelled from Artsakh. Azerbaijan is not ready for peaceful coexistence and no action of the Armenian side in this direction will be responded to.”
Luiza Sukiasyan
