Discussion: Azerbaijani aggression not communicated duly with international structures
Measures that were not taken up by official Yerevan and Stepanakert are of concern, Styopa Safaryan, founder of the Armenian Institute of International and Security Affairs (AIISA) told at a discussion entitled “Implications for Armenia over the international investigation into the Four-day war” held at Media Center on June 14.
“An act of aggression was carried out toward Nagorno Karabakh, violation of the international humanitarian law in Talish village as well as the evidence of the tortured bodies of the Armenian soldiers handed over to the Armenian side. The international law envisages clear punishment for such crimes,” Safaryan noted.
According to the speaker, instead of putting demands to establish the perpetrator’s responsibility, the Armenian society is persuaded to “forget the war” with suggestions “let us continue negotiating. This time we will not report who was the perpetrator.”
“Unfortunately, one thing our foreign minister has done is the statement that everyone is aware who is the initiator, yet no one speaks up,” Safayan stressed.
According to the political scientist, Armenian side should have several quality reports at international structures. “We would have a different situation in that case,” he said.
Gabriel Balayan, expert of International law, present at the discussion, said the Armenian side submitted letters to different agencies of the UN, OSCE, and the COE according to various procedures
“I was participating in the working group at the Defense Ministry on April 2-3. Then I headed for Artsakh – Martakert and continued working with the group members. The information was gathered from all state institutions and summed up in a working group adjacent to the President’s Office. It was later transferred to international structures through diplomatic channels,” Balanyan responded to Safaryan’s arguments.
Andreas Ghukasyan, member of "Stand up, Armenia" initiative on his part stressed that Azerbaijan is aggressively promoting false information in the international organizations, while Armenian foreign ministry focuses on the local media.
“One would ask whether that was an adequate measure. The evidence of an aggression and its consequences was attempted to conceal,” Ghukasyan noted.