The presence of Azerbaijani armed forces (flags and signs) on the roads connecting the communities of the Syunik region of the Republic of Armenia contradicts the foundations of the international human rights system, violates the rule of law and, consequently, lacks any legal basis, Armenia’s Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan says.

The Ombudsman lists the reasons why the Azerbaijani servicemen were deployed in those places:

1) Ethnic cleansing and genocidal policies against Armenians were carried out in Artsakh by terrorist methods;

2) Civilians and soldiers have been tortured and inhumanly treated (beheadings, desecration of corpses, etc.);

3) Jihadists and ISIS terrorists were used against Artsakh. They committed war crimes and atrocities against Armenians;

4) The civilian settlements of Artsakh were subjected to deliberate mass destruction, including with banned cluster weapons;

5) From the first day of the war, it was accompanied by the state policy of encouraging anti-Armenian hatred and incitement of hostility towards Armenians on the basis of ethnicity;

6) During the war, more than 100,000 civilians were displaced from their permanent residences, and about 40,000 people were left homeless;

7) The highest authorities of Azerbaijan and Turkey speak openly about Armenia and the entire Armenian people in the language of threat of genocide (for example, during the military event in Baku on December 10, 2020).

8) The highest bodies of the Azerbaijani government, public figures insult Armenians in order to humiliate the dignity of the whole Armenian people and publicly encourage it.

9) The process of determining Armenia’s borders takes place under the threat of war and the use of force.

10) Due to the threats of war, the borders are determined by mechanical methods and at impermissible speed, without professional work, with gross violations of international rules;

11) The rights and legal interests of the border residents of Armenia are ignored;

12) The process is accompanied by gross violations of property, economic activities and other socio-economic rights of the border residents of Armenia (people deprived of their property and left homeless);

13) The rights of life, dignity, physical and mental inviolability and other vitl rights of the border residents of Syunik and Gegharkunik marzes and, in general, of the entire population of Armenia have been seriously endangered;

14) There is no predictability for residents of border areas or actions are uncertain, at least there is no schedule.

Therefore, the Ombudsman says, the determination of borders with the described approaches will not promote the peaceful coexistence of peoples in the region. on the contrary, it will create fertile ground for incessant hatred and enmity towards Armenians in Azerbaijan, continuous gross human rights violations and other dangerous manifestations.