Azernews.Az

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has said that thousands of ethnic Armenians from Syria, Lebanon, Russia, Georgia, Greece, United Arab Emirates and other countries have been recruited to fight in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

The ministry stated that in an attempt to compensate serious losses, Armenia takes steps to involve foreign nationals, mainly of Armenian origin into its armed units illegally deployed in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

In most cases, the Armenian government and diaspora organizations in third countries call on diaspora members to expeditiously join Armenian armed units in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. For this purpose, ticket sales campaigns are being organizations and special assembling points are being defined. In addition, certain diaspora organizations operating under disguise as charity or non-governmental entities raise funds and collect other material means among the diaspora members to be sent to the Armenian armed units involved in the attacks against the civilian population of Azerbaijan, the ministry said.

The Ministry recalls that under the UN Security Council Resolution 2178 (2014) “individuals who travel to a State other than their States of residence or nationality for the purpose of the perpetration, planning, or preparation of, or participation in, terrorist acts or the providing or receiving of terrorist training, including in connection with armed conflict” are defined as “foreign terrorist fighters”.

The ministry stressed that Armenia, Armenian diaspora organizations and the states in the territories of which these terrorist activities are being organized or financed, bear responsibility under international law and in accordance with their own national legislation for organizing these terrorist activities against Azerbaijan and its civilians.

Moreover, it was stated that according to the relevant operative paragraphs of the above-mentioned resolution and the UN Security Council Resolution 2396 (2017) the UN Member States shall prevent the movement of terrorists and terrorist groups by effective border controls and undertake necessary punitive measures under their penal legislation.

Likewise, the ministry emphasized that, the states of origin should also bear in mind that these “Armenian terrorist fighters”, once being able to return to their countries of origin, would represent a serious threat to their societies as persons involved in terrorist training.

"In view of the above-mentioned, Azerbaijan strongly urges all states, origin or transit, to exercise due diligence in light of the increased intensity of travel by their nationals to Armenia and put in place necessary preventive border control measures, as well as take all steps required for not allowing their territories to be used for supporting or financing terrorist activities against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and its civilian population," the ministry stated.

"The Azerbaijani side is determined to take all measures stemming from its rights under relevant bilateral and multilateral mechanisms with a view to curbing terrorist activities within its internationally recognized territories and against its civilian population and bring the perpetrators to justice," the statement reads.

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