Expert assesses murder of little Zehra and her granny as terrorism

By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

The murder of Azerbaijani civilians by Armenian militaries is terrorism and separatism, says Yuri Raikhel, the Ukrainian analyst.

He made the remarks in his article about the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, published on a popular Ukrainian Internet portal Politeka.net.

On July 4 evening, the Armenian armed forces using mortars and grenade launchers shelled the Alkhanli village of Azerbaijan’s Fuzuli region. As a result of this provocation, a resident of the village and her two-year-old granddaughter were killed. Another resident, who got wounded, was taken to the hospital and was operated on.

Raikhel further noted that the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem could facilitate the development of trade and economic ties of the countries of the region and other states.

“As a result of solving the problem, it will be possible to transport products of the South Caucasus countries through the Caspian and Black seas,” writes Raikhel.

The Ukrainian analyst added that the South Caucasus is a strategic region, and therefore it is always in the interest of foreign states.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, it failed to achieve any result so far.

Today it is obvious that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the biggest obstacle to cooperation of the countries of the region, and Armenia suffers the most from that. The country has no economic relations and transport links with Azerbaijan and Turkey. There are also difficulties in relations with Georgia that separates the republic from its main economic partner – Russia.

The conflicts with neighbors and territorial claims do not allow Armenia to join any regional project and gain any benefits.