Turkey deployed Syrian mercenaries to fight alongside Azerbaijani forces during 2020 Artsakh war
A group of civic organizations has compiled a detained report about the role of mercenaries—jihadists—deployed by Turkey to fight alongside Azerbaijani forces during the 2020 Artsakh War.
The report was proposed by and will be submitted to the United Nations Working Group on use of mercenaries.
According to the Open Society Foundations-Armenia, the report is based on the evidence a group of human rights activists obtained during and after the 44-day war.
“The submitted evidence proves that Syrian mercenaries were hired and transported to Azerbaijan to fight against Artsakh Armenians and took part in the hostilities for material gain, which was a violation of the international humanitarian law. The evidence is incorporated in the report entitled ‘Human rights violations during the 44-day war,’” an OSF report reads.
Both Armenian servicemen and civilians, including the elderly who were unable to leave the combat zone, were killed by the mercenaries.
The NGOs are calling on the relevant U.N. agencies to investigate the facts of hiring and using mercenaries by Azerbaijan and Turkey in Nagorno-Karabakh and in other conflicts, as well as to apply sanctions against the Turkish and Azerbaijani officials involved in hiring and deploying Syrian mercenaries. The NGOs also proposed submitting the evidence to the International Criminal Court for holding Azerbaijan and Turkey, as well as other countries, responsible for using mercenaries.
The NGOs point out a disturbing fact of the UN Working Group using Azerbaijan’s false claims in their statements. They stress that by equating the two parties this and other international agencies aggravate the atmosphere of impunity and reduce the possibility of compensations to the victims.
The report has by prepared by the Open Society Foundations-Armenia, Helsinki Citizens Assembly- Vanadzor, Protection of Rights Without Borders, Transparency International, Public Journalism Club, Analytical Centre on Globalization and Regional Cooperation and For Equal rights NGOs.