Commentary of the Press Service Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia regarding war crimes

The statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia dated October 2, 2022, claiming war crimes were committed by the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan, is an example of the hypocrisy of a country that has pursued an aggressive policy for decades, trampled on the fundamental rights of nearly a million people, and committed numerous war crimes against military personnel, as well as civilians.

Unlike Armenia, Azerbaijan takes its international obligations seriously and claims related to crimes committed during military operations are investigated by relevant state institutions.

On September 17, 2022, the Military Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Azerbaijan announced the beginning of a comprehensive investigation to determine whether the videos posted on social networks are real, the time and place where the videos were filmed, as well as the identity of the military personnel reflected in them.

Since the first Karabakh War, unprecedented massacres have been committed by the Armenian Armed Forces not only against Azerbaijani servicemen, but also against civilians, in just one night, on February 1992, 26, 613 civilians were brutally killed in the town of Khojaly, and so far no information has been given about on the fate of 4,000 Azerbaijanis.

In October 2020, crimes against humanity were committed by missile attacks on the civilian population of the Azerbaijani cities of Ganja, Barda, Mingachevir.

The landmine threat caused by Armenia is a serious threat to the lives of people in the region today. From November 2020 to today, up to 250 people have been victims of landmines, most of them civilians. The fact that the landmines discovered in the territories of Azerbaijan were produced in Armenia in 2021 is evidence that Armenia continues to commit war crimes against Azerbaijanis, on the one hand, by not fully delivering mine maps to Azerbaijan, and on the other, by burying new landmines.

The Armenian Government has not yet taken any effective measures to prevent war crimes or to bring the relevant persons to justice for the crimes committed.

We strongly condemn Armenia's attempts to mislead the international community and hide its responsibility by spreading unfounded claims. 

We demand that Armenia fulfills its international obligations and that those responsible for numerous war crimes be held accountable before the law.