UN slams UN for failing to stop Azerbaijan’s 'aggression’ on Nagorno-Karabakh Armenia condemns Security Council
New York: The UN has called on the ethnic cleansing of the Armenian population by Azerbaijani forces in the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region to stop it. Armenia’s Foreign Minister condemned the failure of the Security Council.
Two days after Azerbaijan launched a military offensive in the region, the UN The comments came from Ararat Mirzoyan, who addressed a special session of the Security Council on Thursday at the 78th session of the General Assembly. „Operation. This follows the deaths of two civilians and four police officers in incidents involving landmines allegedly planted by the Armenian Armed Forces.
Challenging Azerbaijani officials’ assertion that the operation was aimed at fighting terrorism, Mirzoyan said it was a „large-scale invasion … in flagrant violation of international law” that left hundreds of Armenians dead, injured or missing.
He added: „The intensity and brutality of the attack make it clear that the intention was to finalize the ethnic cleansing of the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenian population. The consequences of this large-scale military operation clearly revealed the brutality.
„There were clear signs that this was coming, and we’ve been raising the alarm about it for a long time, but the international community refused to take it seriously.”
Nagorno-Karabakh, internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, is an ethnic Armenian territory that has sparked two wars between Armenia and Azerbaijan since the 1990s.
When Azerbaijan regained control of the region in the second of those conflicts in 2020, a Russian-brokered ceasefire was a decisive victory before the fighting ended. In May this year, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan acknowledged that Nagorno-Karabakh was part of Azerbaijan and recognized its sovereignty.
In December last year, government-backed Azerbaijani protesters blocked the only road linking the enclave to Armenia, preventing food and other essential supplies from reaching the region, sparking what the UN described as a humanitarian crisis.
In response, the International Court of Justice issued a preliminary ruling ordering the government to „ensure unhindered movement” on roads.
Mirzoyan told the Security Council: „This Council, as an august body that ensures the implementation of court orders, failed to act adequately when the International Court of Justice accepted legally binding orders and was insulted by Azerbaijan.
“In April, when Azerbaijan established illegal checkpoints and then began abducting people, the international community again failed to take adequate measures. When Armenia raised the alarm, the international community responded to our warnings with skepticism.
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Zeyhun Byramov told council members that the Armenian perspective on events violates the UN’s own principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Tariq Ahmed, the UK minister for the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and the UN’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, called for a halt to all military action and a return to the negotiating table, and the UN. To support efforts to address immediate humanitarian needs in the region.
„While we fully recognize the issues of sovereignty and territorial integrity, military force cannot be used to resolve inter-communal tensions,” he said. „The only way to find real, sustainable peace, real sustainable solutions is through direct dialogue.
„Therefore, it is now imperative to renegotiate with Armenian representatives based on a credible plan that ensures the rights and security of all in the region and allows them to live in peace.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for strict adherence to the 2020 ceasefire agreement. Miroslav Jenka, Assistant Secretary for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas of the UN Department of Political Affairs, highlighted the need to protect the region’s civilians and ensure that their basic needs, including their human security, are met. Rights, top priority.
„A genuine dialogue between the government of Azerbaijan and representatives of the region, with full engagement in the normalization process by Armenia and Azerbaijan, is the only sustainable way forward,” Jenka said.