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Rena Murshud

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The Patriotic War was the struggle of Azerbaijan not only against the Armenian invaders but also against the forces that supported it. Although they did not physically participate in the war, those forces supported Armenia from the outside with all their capabilities. One of them is the International Committee of the Red Cross, which in recent days has gained popularity on the agenda with its massive love for Armenians.

The ICRC is actually considered a neutral international humanitarian organization. However, last week, the organization significantly damaged its image due to the special support provided by Armenians in the smuggling of goods into the territory of Azerbaijan at the border checkpoint in Azerbaijan's Lachin.

It should be noted that the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, President Ilham Aliyev while giving an interview to the Euronews TV channel yesterday, drew attention to the fact that he touched on a number of points, as well as his serious messages to the Armenian government. While answering the questions of the international correspondent, the President also touched upon an important issue related to the position of the ICRC.

"We asked from the Red Cross to stop it and also asked them to work with us more constructively. Unfortunately, until today, their office in Karabakh has been subordinated not to Baku office, but to Yerevan offices. This is not acceptable. Because the whole world recognizes Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan. Even the Armenian Prime Minister said many times that “Karabakh is Azerbaijan”. That is our legitimate request as to why the Red Cross Khankendi office is not subordinate to Baku office but to Yerevan office."

The President's emphasis is also a call for the necessity of special control of any vehicles and goods entering Azerbaijan from the Lachin border checkpoint, as well as for the organization to respect the integrity of Azerbaijan's territories.

The former foreign minister of Azerbaijan, political scientist Tofig Zulfugarov, who commented on the issue for AZERNEWS, called the arbitrary actions of such international organizations totally abnormal.

"Rules and laws dictated from outside are both surprising and unacceptable for us. The same rules that we apply sometimes cause criticism, especially when we try to do it against them. The government of Azerbaijan has already proposed to introduce a special way of importing such goods. There has been traffic there since Soviet times. In this respect, it is our decision. There is a logical contradiction here. According to the Garabagh Armenians living there, they are 'suffering' and 'starving' there. However, they themselves block the way there," the pundit said.

Speaking about the demands put forward by Azerbaijan after its victory, the diplomat noted that in 2020, when peacekeeping forces were deployed in the territory of Garabagh, Azerbaijan demanded that Russian soldiers serving in Armenia should not participate in the peacekeeping mission. The request was to deploy the soldiers of the peacekeeping brigade located in the Russian city of Orenburg in those areas. According to another demand, if the peacekeeping operation is conducted on the territory of Azerbaijan and within the framework of its laws, the security of the operation all supplies should be from the territory of Azerbaijan, not Armenia. However, the demands were not fulfilled because the infrastructure of Karabakh did not allow it. Currently, Azerbaijan has created the necessary infrastructure in those areas within 2.5 years; airports have been built, and the road from Khankendi to Agdam is ready.

Speaking about the infrastructure, the expert said that nobody from the other side wants the provision to come from Azerbaijan. Because it will further increase the country's influence on the situation. Also, according to the expert, there was a secret initiative of Russian politicians along with Armenians in the forming of the idea of 'blockade'. But currently, the only way for Armenian and Russian peacekeepers to use is the Aghdam road. This decision is fully supported by the Azerbaijani public.

Also touching on the activities of the Red Cross Committee, the expert pointed out that the Committee should also sign a memorandum of understanding with local institutions while performing its mission in a country. In other words, the organization starts operating only on the basis of the memorandum.

"During the war, the territories of Garabagh were not under our control, but under occupation. However, in 2020, Azerbaijan restored its territorial integrity and sovereignty. In this regard, if the Red Cross Organization wants to operate in that area, it should officially discuss these issues with the government of Azerbaijan and implement them within the framework of the state's proposals and wishes, as well as based on the experience of international laws. Otherwise, Azerbaijan may suspend the activities of the committee. The sovereignty of each country cannot be violated by any organization. In fact, the Chairman of the Committee knows these points very well, and even if he knows this, he should follow them," Zulfugarov said.

In addition, the expert spoke about the institutions operating in the so-called Nagorno-Karabakh.

"Institutions located in those territories are subordinate to Armenia. It is financed by the state budget of Armenia. About 360 million dollars goes into the pockets of the so-called "president", "ministers" and "parliamentarians" of the so-called Nagorno-Garabagh in the form of salaries. They are considered civil servants of Armenia. They can be called irredentists rather than separatists. Also, they intend to annex those territories to their territory and never wanted it to be independent. If you remember, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan once said that "Garabagh (Artsakh) is Armenia." Currently, all the ministers and officials working there are considered criminals. All of them are remnants of the occupying administration against Azerbaijan. In general, it is not right to even negotiate with them. Also, they deprived Armenians living in Garabagh of their rights," the former minister said.

Focusing on the issue, Tofig Zulfugarov spoke about the provocations committed against Azerbaijan.

"The provocations committed by the separatists are committed not only against Azerbaijan but also against supporters of peace amongst them. If any Armenian shouts the slogan "friendship with Azerbaijan" or "we want peace", provocation is immediately carried out against them. Of course, all this is unacceptable. Azerbaijan will fight to the end and repel those forces from our territories. Because Azerbaijan has full power for this. I think there is no need for the intervention of external forces here. We also know that some international organizations usually deviate from international principles. The step they took is a policy based on double-triple standards," the pundit added.

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