Armenpress News Agency , Armenia
July 13, 2017 Thursday


European Parliament lawmakers call on Azerbaijan to stop using own
civilians as human shield



YEREVAN, JULY 13, ARMENPRESS. Members of the European Parliament Marek
Jurek from Poland and CostasMavrides from Cyprus urge Azerbaijan to
stop using its own civilian population as a live shield and to
introduce an OSCE independent investigative mechanism in the Artsakh
line of contact.

“On July 4, 2017 Azerbaijani armed forces violated the cease-fire
regime in the contact line. Azerbaijan had installed a multiple rocket
launcher system in an inhabited village, thus using its own civilian
population as a human shield. The cross-fire resulted in a tragic loss
of two civilians on the Azerbaijani side. We deplore the loss of two
innocent lives and emphasize that this tragedy, as well as other
clashes between the armed forced could have certainly been avoided, if
Azerbaijan agreed to install an independent investigative mechanism to
determine which side exactly violates the cease-fire. The OSCE
Minsk-Group has proposed this on several occasions. The Armenian side
has agreed to install this mechanism. Unfortunately, official
Azerbaijan continues to reject it”, the MEPs said in a statement.

The lawmakers underscored that the investigative mechanism could have
helped in avoiding the 2016 April War, when Azerbaijan shelled
Armenian villages killing 12 year old Vaghinak Grigoryan, who was on
his way to school.

“The bodies of an elderly 90-year-old couple in the village of Talish,
were brutally mutilated by the Azerbaijani forces, their ears were cut
off. Since April 2016 the Azerbaijan armed forces have committed war
crimes, including an ISIS-style beheading of an Armenian soldier Karam
Sloyan. Pictures of the head were then posted on the social media by
the Azerbaijani forces as a trophy and the cruel murder was praised as
a heroic act. These barbaric acts are unfortunately an indirect
consequence of Armenophobia in Azerbaijan, nurtured from the highest
levels and acts, such as elevating Ramil Safarov, who killed an
Armenian colleague in his sleep with an ax in Budapest, to a national
hero by the current Government of Azerbaijan”, the statement says.

Marek Jurek and CostasMavrides mentioned that the losses on both sides
are tragic and they must absolutely be prevented.

“It is unacceptable to use a population as a human shield while
shelling other inhabited areas and then abuse photos for propaganda
purposes. An investigative mechanism must be immediately installed. We
herewith call on Azerbaijan to stop using its own population as a
human shield and install the OSCE independent investigative mechanism
which would create favorable conditions for trust and negotiations”,
the MEPs said.