ATUC APPEAL to international trade unions on resettlement of ethnic Armenians from Lebanon
16 Sep 2020
Dear Colleagues! As you know, as a result of the Armenian military aggression, 20 percent of the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan - the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 adjacent regions - has been occupied by Armenian military units.
Armenian
armed forces, in violation of all the principles and norms of international
humanitarian law, purposefully chose the civilian population as the main target
and committed a systematic and mass massacre and genocide.
As a
result of the conflict, more than 1 million Azerbaijanis were displaced, 20,000
people were killed during the military operations, and 50,000 people became
disabled. As a result of the conflict, about 4,000 Azerbaijanis went missing.
Among them were 67 children, 265 women and 326 elderly people. The fate of
these people is still unknown. More than 2,000 Azerbaijanis were captured and
taken hostage by Armenians.
Acting
as the main guarantor of international peace and security, the UN Security
Council adopted four resolutions on the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict in 1993 - 822, 853, 874 and 884. These resolutions define the legal
basis of the political process for resolving the conflict on the basis of the
norms and principles of international law. The resolutions condemned the
occupation of Azerbaijani territory and stressed the inadmissibility of the
implementation of territorial claims through the use of force. The territorial
integrity, sovereignty and inviolability of the borders of Azerbaijan were
reaffirmed and the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the
occupying forces from all occupied territories of Azerbaijan was demanded.
Along
with the United Nations Security Council, the Organization of Islamic
Cooperation (OIC), the European Union, the Council of Europe, the OSCE, the
Non-Aligned Movement and other international organizations have stated their
position on Azerbaijan's military aggression and the restoration of its
territorial integrity draws.
In order
to continue its insidious intentions, the Republic of Armenia today places
Armenian citizens from foreign countries in the occupied territories and wants
to artificially change the demographic situation in Nagorno-Karabakh in its
favor.
The
Armenian side has long been relocating ethnic Armenians from Syria to occupied
Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas. Now the resettlement of Armenians from
Lebanon has been added to this process. The process of resettlement of
Armenians from Lebanon to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan is
intensifying after the explosion in Beirut.
After
the explosion in Beirut, the occupying Armenia, using the tragedy in this
country for its own nefarious purposes, began to implement plans to relocate
Lebanese Armenians to Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas, which are
internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan and are currently under
military occupation. This illegal activity is a gross violation of the norms
and principles of international law by the occupying Armenia, including the
1949 Geneva Convention and its Additional Protocols, as well as Armenia's
obligations.
The
purpose of Armenia, which pursues a policy of illegal settlement, is clear; In
this way, the aggressor country is trying to strengthen the status quo based on
the results of ethnic cleansing in the occupied territories.
Occupying
Armenia, which is trying to artificially increase the number of Armenians by
illegally resettling ethnic Armenians who have nothing to do with the region to
the currently occupied territories of Azerbaijan, has been forcibly expelling
Azerbaijani IDPs from their homes and property in Nagorno-Karabakh and
surrounding areas. prevents its return.
The
Armenian leadership, which seeks to escalate tensions in the region and has
recently openly demonstrated this with its provocative actions and statements,
is undermining the settlement of the conflict behind the negotiating table with
this policy of annexation.
Dear
Colleagues!
The
Confederation of Trade Unions of Azerbaijan strongly protests against the
illegal settlement policy pursued by Armenia, in particular the resettlement of
ethnic Armenians from Lebanon to the Nagorno-Karabakh region and surrounding
areas of Azerbaijan, and demands an end to illegal activities in our occupied
territories.
We believe that international trade unions are
aware of Armenia's illegal settlement policy in Nagorno-Karabakh, an integral
part of Azerbaijan. We hope that these international organizations, of which we
have been working for many years, will show a fair position on the essence of
Armenia's policy of artificially changing the demographic situation in
Nagorno-Karabakh and fulfilling Azerbaijan's just demand to stop it will make
demands to the relevant organizations for the implementation of resolutions and
decisions.
