BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 14. The Azerbaijani diaspora active in European countries has not remained indifferent to the mine explosions that occurred on April 6 and 7 in Azerbaijan's Aghdam and Jabrayil districts, TurkicWorld reports via the State Committee on Work with Diaspora.
The committee reported that as a result of these tragic incidents, one serviceman of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces was killed, and four civilians, including underage children, were injured to varying degrees.
The diaspora sent letters of protest to a number of international organizations, including the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the European External Action Service (EEAS) and its representation in the United States, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), the European office of Human Rights Watch, the German branch of Amnesty International, and media organizations such as BBC News, Deutsche Welle, France 24, Al Jazeera English, and The Guardian.
The letters emphasized that the mine threat on the territories of Azerbaijan liberated from occupation has still not been eliminated, and the lives of innocent people remain under constant threat. The refusal to provide maps of minefields planted by Armenia, which continue to cause tragedies, was strongly condemned. Since the end of the Second Karabakh War in November 2020, 392 people have been killed or injured as a result of mine explosions.
Besides, the letters called for urgent attention to the humanitarian situation in areas contaminated by Armenian mines, as well as holding Armenia accountable under international law, which remain key responsibilities of international institutions.
The diaspora called on the international community to pay attention to Armenia’s ongoing military provocations and mine terrorism and to take decisive action to achieve lasting peace and stability in the region.
Particularly active in the protest actions against mine terrorism were: the Prague House of Azerbaijani Culture, the Hungarian House of Azerbaijan, the Society of Azerbaijanis of Barcelona, the Bremen House of Azerbaijani Culture, the European Azerbaijani Center, the Public Union for Promoting Azerbaijani-Bulgarian Friendship, the Association of Azerbaijani-Turkic Culture, the European Azerbaijani Women Union "Ana Vatan" ("Motherland"), the Coordinating Council of Azerbaijanis of the Netherlands-Belgium, the Coordinating Council of Azerbaijanis of France, the "MADANI-Azerbaijani Platform for Culture, Sports, Thought, Solidarity and Future Opportunities", the Swedish-Azerbaijani Cultural Association, the "Khari-Bulbul" World Azerbaijanis Cultural Association, and the "Gala" Greek-Azerbaijani Friendship Society.
