Ankara, October 6, AZERTAC

Turkish News Agency has published an article by Chairman of the Trade Union of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Azerbaijan, political scientist Mehman Ismayilov.

Headlined “Azerbaijan continues its efforts to fight terrorism”, the article reads:

“Today, Azerbaijan continues to actively contribute to global efforts in the international fight against terrorism. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States, Azerbaijan became one of the active members of the international coalition against terrorism. In response to international calls in this direction, the Republic of Azerbaijan has opened its airspace and airports to members of the international anti-terrorist coalition fighting Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Azerbaijan's joint activities with the anti-terrorist coalition forces in Afghanistan and Iraq are a clear example in the fight against international terrorism. Today, our country considers international cooperation as one of the most important components in the fight against terrorism.

Along with bilateral, trilateral and multilateral agreements signed with other countries, Azerbaijan actively participates in regional and international cooperation mechanisms in the fight against terrorism. In this regard, especially, the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, the OSCE Transnational Threats Department, the Council of Europe's Experts Group on Counter-Terrorism (CODEXTER), as well as GUAM, the European Union, the CIS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and others should be noted.

Azerbaijan regularly reviews its internal legislation in the field of fighting terrorism in order to comply with existing international obligations and makes necessary additions and changes. At present, our country has joined all 12 existing international conventions on combating terrorism. The legislation of the country has been adapted to those international conventions.

Currently, one of the main problems in the fight against terrorism is the continuing occupation of the country's territories by Armenia. As the occupied territories are beyond national and international control, they create favourable conditions for criminal groups to independently carry out their illegal activities. There is a risk that the proceeds from criminal acts in those areas will be used to finance terrorist activities in various parts of the world.

Azerbaijan is a country that has been exposed to terrorism since the 1980s. From this point of view, the problem of terrorism is not a new concept for our republic. There is solid evidence of terrorist activity committed in our territory with the direct initiative, organization and participation of Armenia, which caused the loss of thousands of lives. Since the late 1980s, Armenia, which has claimed the territories of Azerbaijan and used force against the territorial integrity of our country, has repeatedly committed terrorist acts. Unfortunately, the initiators and participants of these terrorist acts are still at large and have not yet been brought to justice.

If we look at history, in the absence of sufficient political and military power, Armenian terrorism has been used as an effective tool to seize resources and territories in order to create a single living space for Armenians scattered around the world since its inception. They recognized and used the first Armenian political institutions, Armenikan (1885), Hnchak (1887) and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun / EIFD (1890), as a necessary tool to fight their enemies and as a unifying tool in the transformation of the Armenian ethnos, the ethnic-religious sect of the Armenian Gregorian Church, into a mono-ethnic nation with statehood.

Armenian terrorism, which is widely supported among the wider Armenian community, has been remembered for its genuine hatred and discord, including the representatives of their own and other ethnic groups. A clear example of this was the brutal massacre of Azerbaijanis in 1905 and March 1918. In 1918, while celebrating the most beloved national holiday of Azerbaijanis - Novruz, thousands of armed terrorists of the EIFD raided the cities and villages of Azerbaijan and massacred the civilian population with unprecedented brutality. In those days, 20,000 Azerbaijani civilians were killed, 167 villages were destroyed, 35 of them were completely destroyed.

The ethnic genocide of Armenian terrorists in the second half of the 1980s was marked by terrorist attacks in Azerbaijan, mainly with the explosions of passenger buses and subway trains.

After restoring its independence in 1991, the Republic of Armenia justified terrorism at the state level in advancing its territorial claims against Azerbaijan and made extensive use of terrorist means in the occupation and annexation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, as well as seven surrounding regions.

More than 6,000 Armenians living in Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Russia, Ukraine, Greece, Bulgaria, France and the United States with funding and supplies from the Armenian Diaspora and Special Security Services, have actively participated in the military occupation of internationally recognized territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan and expelled more than one million Azerbaijanis from their homes.

The most horrific terrorist act committed by Armenia against the Azerbaijani people took place on the night of February 26, 1992 in the city of Khojaly, where 613 Azerbaijanis, including 106 women and 63 children, were brutally killed. The Memorial Human Rights Center and “Human Rights Watch” have called the Khojaly genocide one of the most brutal tragedies against civilians.

Of particular interest is the fact that former Armenian presidents Serzh Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan were military commanders who took part in the occupation of Azerbaijani territories and directly led the killings and atrocities committed there.

Among the latest victims of the Armenian terrorist acts near the frontline and the state border were a 5-year-old boy from Aghdam, 13-year-old girl from Tovuz and 2-year-old girl from Fuzuli and most recently, on October 4, 2020, a 14-year-old boy from Aghjabadi was killed as a result of a missile attack on civilian objects outside the frontline from the territory of Armenia.

Armenian terrorism, born of extremist nationalist mood and the dream of creating a "greater Armenia", has always been adapted to meet the changing political goals of Armenians. Armenian terrorism, which emerged in the late 19th century and grew rapidly in the mid-20th century, has become a major threat to countries in the region and beyond, with more than 200 terrorist attacks on four different continents, including Europe, Asia, the Americas and even Australia. Given the constant use of terror and violence at every stage of the escalation of the Armenian nationalist spirit, the necessary measures must be taken in a timely manner to eliminate this situation of ethnic terrorism at the regional and international levels for the sake of peace, security and stability.

Starting from September 27, 2020, the Azerbaijani Army has been conducting military operations to liberate the occupied territories from the occupiers. These operations are an example of the fight against international terrorism. Armenia, which has turned state terrorism into its state policy, today uses terrorist groups engaged in terrorist activities against the Azerbaijani Army on the frontline in Syria, Lebanon and other countries, and this fact has been confirmed by irrefutable evidence. All these facts were expressed by the leaders of Armenia and the so-called "Nagorno-Karabakh Republic". Today, Armenia, which has turned state terrorism into its state policy, uses terrorist groups engaged in terrorist activities against the Azerbaijani Army on the frontline in Syria, Lebanon and other countries, and these facts have been confirmed by irrefutable evidence. All these facts were expressed by the leaders of Armenia and the so-called "Nagorno-Karabakh Republic".

The military-political leadership of the aggressor Armenia continues to commit acts of terrorism against the civilian population, grossly violating the norms and principles of international law. As a result of heavy artillery shelling of the densely populated areas of the Azerbaijani population by the enemy's armed forces, more than 78 civilians have been hospitalized with various injuries, and 23 people have been killed.

In addition, Armenian military units still continue to fire heavily Beylagan, Aghjabadi, Barda, Goranboy, Tartar, Dashkasan, Shamkir, Tovuz, Ganja, Naftalan, Mingachevir, which are outside the battle zone and especially Absheron and Khizi, which are close to the capital of our country – densely populated areas - district and village centers, civil infrastructure facilities - houses, hospitals, medical centers, school buildings, kindergartens, government buildings, economic areas by heavy artillery.

As a result of enemy artillery fire, damage to various objects, including civilian objects, individual and apartment houses, farms, infrastructure facilities is eliminated, fires are extinguished immediately, and for this purpose the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Azerbaijan, medical workers are working in an intensified mode.

Armenia is deliberately firing on Azerbaijani rescuers, firefighters, medical workers, local and foreign journalists.

Thus, this inhumane act of Armenia, which ignores international humanitarian norms and international conventions on war and continues its terrorist activities, should be condemned by the civilized countries of the world and efforts to support Azerbaijan's struggle for justice, which is an example of the fight against international terrorism, should be strengthened. In the fight against international terrorism, the countries' double-standard approach must be stopped, the aggressor country must be called by its own name and become an object of criticism.”

Sabir Shakhtakhti

Special Correspondent