Human Rights Watch reacts to the video showing Azerbaijani Forces Executing Armenian POWs

The execution of Armenian prisoners of war (POWs), apparently by Azerbaijani forces during fighting between the countries in September 2022 is a war crime for which there needs to be accountability, Human Rights Watch reported today. Human Rights Watch analyzed a video posted on social media in early October showing the extrajudicial execution of at least seven Armenian POWs, apparently by Azerbaijani forces.

Azerbaijan responds to Macron’s statements

The Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan considered the statements of French President Emmanuel Macron regarding the processes in the South Caucasus and the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations as biased and unacceptable.

In the October 12 interview, Macron expressed sincere support for Armenia. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan absolutely rejects the French President’s statements regarding Azerbaijan, considering them groundless.

“Unfortunately, the French president is still silent about the fact that Armenia has not fulfilled the points of the tripartite declaration, creating a mine threat in the region,” the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan stated.

The Foreign Ministry notes that Azerbaijan, taking into account the impossibility of the Minsk Group’s activities at the moment, has not given up on France’s mediation regarding the settlement of relations between Baku and Yerevan, on the initiative of Macron, meetings were held in this direction on February 4, 2022, and October 6, 2022, however, the French president’s statements against Azerbaijan cast serious doubt on his neutrality and impartiality as a mediator.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that with Azerbaijan’s attempts to ensure peace, stability, and development in the region, to regulate relations with Armenia based on the principles of international law, France’s unilateral position and groundless accusations against Baku force Azerbaijan to once again review France’s mediation efforts.

It should be noted that Macron accused Russia of deliberately provoking the latest clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan as part of efforts to destabilize the Caucasus region.

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, responded to Macron’s statement and noted: “Moscow considers absolutely unacceptable Macron’s statements that Russia is using the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan to destabilize the Caucasus. Paris’s attempts to drive a wedge in Moscow’s relations with Yerevan and Baku are doomed to failure and will lead to the devaluation of France’s prestige in the region,” Zakharova noted.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also referred to Macron’s statement and noted that he was surprised to read French President Emmanuel Macron’s statements about the role of the Russian Federation in Nagorno-Karabakh. Putin called them incorrect and unacceptable.

Later, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev also commented on the statements made by Emmanuel Macron.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated at the meeting of the Council of the Heads of States of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) that his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, is not using the correct vocabulary, saying that “the Russian Federation has played Azerbaijan’s game”.

Aliyev called Macron’s accusations against Russia that Moscow deliberately destabilized the situation in the South Caucasus, as well as Azerbaijan’s accusations that Baku occupied the territories of Nagorno-Karabakh as “offensive, deceitful, unacceptable and provocative.”

In addition, Aliyev referred to the quadrilateral meeting held in Prague on October 6, emphasizing that “although the French president participated in it, France has nothing to do with the relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia.”

“Yes, France, as co-chair of the Minsk Group, had the mandate of a mediation mission, but since the Karabakh conflict has been resolved, and there is no need for the services of the Minsk Group, especially since those services were, so to speak, “the service of the bear”, as I already said, the Minsk Group did not do anything, not a single centimeter of our territory was liberated,” Aliyev said.

According to him, Azerbaijan, “allowed the French president to participate in this meeting”.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan also released a message, stating: “With Azerbaijan’s attempts to ensure peace, stability, and development in the region, to regulate relations with Armenia based on the principles of international law, France’s unilateral position and groundless accusations against Baku force Azerbaijan to once again review France’s mediation efforts.”

Nikol Pashinyan claims Azerbaijan has intentions to occupy more territories of Armenia, which must be prevented

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated at the meeting of the Council of the Heads of States of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) that his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, is not using the correct vocabulary, saying that “the Russian Federation has played Azerbaijan’s game”. Aliyev called Macron’s accusations against Russia that Moscow deliberately destabilized the situation in the South Caucasus, as well as Azerbaijan’s accusations that Baku occupied the territories of Nagorno-Karabakh as “offensive, deceitful, unacceptable and provocative.”

Other News

• The Ministry of Defense of Armenia is denying Azerbaijani media reports which claim that an unspecified number of Armenian servicemembers were killed or wounded when their vehicle hit a landmine.

• The Artsakh delegation has been in Yerevan for 2-3 days, and there have been meetings with the representatives of the highest authority of RA, Artsakh Foreign Minister Davit Babayan said this during a briefing with journalists.

• The Armenian authorities have always suggested that Artsakh should be involved and is involved in all discussions and issues.  After the meeting with the Artsakh delegation, the President of the National Assembly, Alen Simonyan, said this in a press conference.