Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the United States of America

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, October 28, 2020

Armenia commits another war crime by killing scores of civilians in Barda

Washington, DC – Earlier today, the armed forces of Armenia, using internationally prohibited Smerch cluster munitions, hit the Azerbaijani city of Barda causing scores of civilian causalities.^[1] As a result of this treacherous missile attack, in largest death toll from a single attack, 21 civilians were killed, including children. More than 70 were seriously injured. This comes a day after another missile attack on Barda killed four civilians, including a child, and wounded 13 others.^[2]

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev once again reiterates that, unlike Armenia, the Azerbaijani side only responds to military targets and has no intention to hurt civilians. He also pledged a measured response in order to respect the ceasefire announced in Washington, D.C. and the efforts of international mediators on the eve of another round of peace talks in Geneva. President Aliyev has also raised concern regarding Russia's continued deliveries of weapon systems to Armenia, which is contrary to the efforts to establish a meaningful ceasefire.

In response to the recent attacks, the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov stated: “Azerbaijan will do its utmost that those responsible for war crimes against the Azerbaijani peaceful population, including those in the city of Barda, are held accountable and brought to justice. May God rest the souls of those innocent civilians in eternal peace”.

Ambassador Suleymanov says, “Armenian leadership has flagrantly violated international humanitarian law again. Its attacks on communities in Barda and Ganja constitute as war crimes. The persistent targeting of innocent people and civilian infrastructure far away from the military operations shows that Armenia disregards both humanity and the mediation efforts of the international community. Armenia has no desire for a diplomatic solution. By attacking civilian residential areas during the formally declared humanitarian ceasefire and a day before the Geneva meeting of the Foreign Ministers under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, Armenia is undermining the negotiations and increasing tensions”.

As reported^[3], following intensive negotiations facilitated by the United States on October 24, Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to implement and abide by the humanitarian ceasefire agreed to in Moscow on October 10. Unfortunately, just minutes after the ceasefire took effect at midnight EST on October 26, Armenia’s armed forces subjected Azerbaijan

^[1] https://mfa.gov.az/en/news/7003/view

^[2] https://mfa.gov.az/en/news/7000/view

^[3] https://www.state.gov/u-s-armenia-azerbaijan-joint-statement/

military positions and civilian residential areas to intensive artillery fire along the entire frontline of the conflict. Particularly, civilians are being targeted in Dashkasan, Aghjabadi, Tartar, Aghdam districts.

This is the third time in two and a half weeks that the ceasefire regime is being grossly violated by Armenia. The other two ceasefires were agreed to on October 10 and 17 with the Russian and French mediation respectively. In the case of the October 17 breach, Armenia launched unprecedented Scud ballistic missile attacks on the second largest city of Ganja within an hour of the agreed humanitarian ceasefire in Moscow. The attack resulted in 12 civilian deaths and dozens injured^[1]. Over the last few weeks, Ganja was hit 3 times, killing 26 people, including 6 children and 10 women. Since September 27, 91 civilians, including children, women and elderly were killed, nearly 400 civilians have been hospitalized with serious injuries. Targeting innocent civilians demonstrates that Armenia prefers cruel and hideous methods of warfare and has no intention to adhere to any ceasefire

^[1] https://mfa.gov.az/en/news/6971/view

For further information:

Phone: (202) 337-3500

E-mail: s_valiyeva@azembassy.us