16:42, 1 July 2023
YEREVAN, JULY 1, ARMENPRESS. Ambassador-at-Large Edmon Marukyan has called on the international community to prevent another provocation by Azerbaijan and its policy of ethnic cleansing in Nagorno Karabakh.
“Azerbaijani media reports about a new special operation being prepared by Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh. Reasoning that the 4 servicemen who were killed in Nagorno-Karabakh on June 28 as a result of the Azerbaijani provocation were servicemen of the Armenian Defense Ministry,” Marukyan tweeted on July 1. “The allegations of the Azerbaijani side are completely false, there are no Armenian servicemen in NK, the killed servicemen were from NK. Armenia has repeatedly offered an international fact-finding mission to be sent to Nagorno-Karabakh to prove the presence or absence of the units of Armenian Armed Forces. Azerbaijan rejected that offer. Azerbaijan's initiation of a new provocation will once again violate the trilateral statement of November 9, according to which Russian peacekeepers must ensure the safety of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. The international community should follow the actions of the Azerbaijani side in order to prevent another provocation and Azerbaijan's policy of ethnic cleansing against the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians,” he added.
Armenia does not maintain any military presence in Nagorno Karabakh but Azerbaijan is falsely accusing it of having troops there.
The most recent false accusation happened after the June 28 Azeri attack in Nagorno Karabakh, which left four Nagorno Karabakh troops dead. Azerbaijan falsely claimed that two of the four fallen troops were servicemen of the Armed Forces of Armenia. The bodies of the two soldiers were transported by the ICRC to Armenia to be buried in the Yerablur pantheon based on the desire of the families. The Nagorno Karabakh Human Rights Defender released documents proving that the fallen troops were servicemen of the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Army.