Int’l organizations respond Baku’s appeal for hostages’ release

/By AzerNews/

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijan has sent an appeal to seven international organizations over the fate of Azerbaijani hostages in the Armenian captivity.

“Under President Ilham Aliyev`s instructions the Azerbaijani government has sent an official appeal to seven international organizations, including the UN Secretary General, heads of the Council of Europe, the European Union and the OSCE, president of the International Committee of Red Cross, UN High Commissioner for Refugees and international organizations on human rights, over the release of Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev, who were taken hostage by Armenians,” said Ali Hasanov, Azerbaijan`s Deputy Premier, chairman of the State Committee for Refugees and IDPs, on January 6, AzerTag news agency reported.

Armenian special forces killed Azerbaijani citizen Hasan Hasanov and took hostage Shahbaz Guliyev and Dilgam Asgarov in the Shaplar village of the occupied Kelbajar region on July 11. The civilians were visiting the graves of their relatives. The Armenians have put on trial on October 27 the two Azerbaijanis, who were captured in their native lands by the Armenian separatists.

Despite repeated calls by the international organizations and foreign countries on Armenia to return the captives back to their country, nothing has been made in this regard so far.

Hasanov noted that all international organizations have already responded to the appeal.

He said some of those responds include ideas contradicting international legal norms, but others have positively approached to the issue, adding that some international organizations took a formal, bureaucratic approach to the matter, and some took an objective approach, condemned these acts of Armenians and considered them as violation of international legal norms.

“Our citizens, taken hostage by Armenians, are people, who love their motherland, nation. They have gone to occupied Kalbajar to visit the graves of their relatives. We have delivered truths about this to all international communities. But, they continue their fascist acts, and roughly violate all international legal norms. Armenian nationalists are busy on popularization of “Armenian genocide” by Turks for 100 years,” Hasanov underlined.

He stressed that if the international organizations are keen on restoration of sustainable peace in the region, they have to oblige Armenians to get rid of such crazy fantasies, adding that in the real life, it is observed the contrary of this.

“Nobody, except our people, state and President will solve our current global problems, including the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In this matter, we rely on the unity of our nation and resolute steps of our President, Supreme Commander Ilham Aliyev. The Head of State is constantly busy on release of those persons. I believe our President, who returned Ramil Safarov to the country, will free Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev from the Armenian capture. They are now in Shusha, in our lands.” Hasanov said.

The bloody war, which flared up in the late 1980s due to Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor, left without home over a million of civilians of Nagorno-Karabakh and the regions adjoining it, as well as the regions bordering with Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

As a result of the military aggression of Armenia, over 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed, 4,866 are reported missing and almost 100,000 were injured, and 50,000 were disabled.

The UN Security Council has passed four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been enforced to this day.