About 6,000 Azerbaijani Special Forces are stationed in the border areas of Armenia and Artsakh, lawyer Siranush Sahakyan, representative of the interests of Armenian prisoners at the ECHR, noted. These studies are summarized in a new report published by the “Tatoyan” Foundation, which refers to the Azerbaijani attack on Jermuk on September 13-14, 2022. Siranush Sahakyan was also involved in the preparation of the report.
Arman Tatoyan and Siranush Sahakyan presented the report today. “Commando” unit is located in Hadrut and Karvachar. At the moment, there are five units, but the location of three of them is kept secret. In the interviews of their leadership staff, the fight against the irregular military units operating in the territory of Azerbaijan, under which they understand the Artsakh Defense Army, was recorded as a goal,” Siranush Sahakyan elaborated, adding that he believes that the Azerbaijani Special Forces have a task to destroy the Artsakh military units.
Reminder: 2020, the Azerbaijani “Yashma” special forces unit was involved in the 44-day war, the members of which were ferocious in Hadrut. In 2022, the “Commando” unit was created based on the model of the Turkish army, whose members were trained by the Turkish military.
Siranush Sahakyan reminds us that she stated in 2022 that there is clear evidence that the “Commando” unit was involved in shooting Armenian prisoners of war at the “Hovaz 1” hill in Ishkhanasar. At that time, a video about the incident was distributed, where it was seen that there were nine service members in the position, Azerbaijani service members were shooting four, but it was possible to identify only two of them.
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Arman Tatoyan also referred to installing the Azerbaijani checkpoint on the Goris-Stepanakert road. According to him, by establishing the checkpoint, Azerbaijan aims to isolate Artsakh from the outside world and solve its problem. “This is part of a larger political goal.” The speaker considers the establishment of the checkpoint as a violation. In addition to the points of the joint statement of November 9, 2020, that in parallel, Azerbaijan conducts genocidal, ethnic cleansing policy, the Azerbaijani authorities spread threats and shoot.
According to Arman Tatoyan, Azerbaijan carried out a well-planned operation using so-called eco-activists, as a result of which a checkpoint was installed using soft power. “Establishing the checkpoint is illegal, from the point of view of international human rights, international criminal law, humanitarian law, it is clearly unlawful. Imagine for a moment, if we accept its legitimacy, our compatriots pass by; this means that the Azerbaijani authorities can arrest, detain, and steal anyone passing by. Who knows what will happen to that person? During the war, our boys come under their control, then look, they don’t confirm, we don’t know where they are. Anyone passing through a checkpoint can be falsely charged. They say that it is possible for good loads. That will be the first step. Azerbaijan’s favorite policy is to move forward gradually. Let’s discuss our cases in Syunik. First, they put, “Welcome to Azerbaijan,” then they said that a soldier should stand to protect the sign, then said that our soldiers are cold; they built infrastructure and started to move forward. The same will happen here, I’m sure. They can do whatever they want to anyone; no international legal guarantee works. Now, if our compatriot was arrested, detained, the cargo was taken from him, the car was confiscated, how we will protect him?”
Nelly GRIGORYAN
