Units of Azerbaijan’s armed forces, resorting once again to a large-scale provocation, opened fire on September 13 at midnight at 00:05 in the directions of Sotk, Vardenis, Goris, Kapan, Artanish and Ishkhanasar, also targeting the residential areas of innocent civilians.
It is evident that the disinformation spread in recent days regarding shelling by the Armenian side was a plan devised by Azerbaijan’s military-political leadership, aimed at creating an artificial pretext for this violence.
With this deliberate criminal encroachment to heighten border tensions, Azerbaijan’s goal is to derail the negotiation process, evade the implementation of certain provisions of the November 9 trilateral agreement, and through violence and pressure, force Armenia to provide a corridor and impose concessions from the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia.
Indeed, the Armenian Democratic Liberal Party strongly condemns this criminal attack by Azerbaijan against the Armenian people.
We expect from the Russian Federation and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) the fulfilment of their obligation, as provided for in the relevant treaties with Armenia, to protect the territorial integrity of the Republic of Armenia.
We draw the attention of the international community, the European Union and the UN Security Council to this intolerable assault, which contains an obvious violation of international humanitarian law standards and various elements of war crimes, demanding the condemnation of Azerbaijan’s encroachments and the taking of immediate measures aimed at halting them, through the application of international legal mechanisms.
In view of these developments, the Armenian Democratic Liberal Party calls upon all Armenians of the homeland and the diaspora to unite and jointly exert all possible efforts to extricate our homeland from this disastrous situation, and to stand by the Armenian army, which stands firm at the homeland’s border.
We expect that the parliamentary opposition will realise the gravity of the moment, setting aside political and ideological differences, and will jointly undertake with the authorities the sacred task of neutralising the threats that shake the foundations of our nation and statehood.
The Armenian Democratic Liberal Party expresses its deep condolences to the families of those killed as a result of the Azerbaijani attack and wishes a speedy recovery to the wounded.
CENTRAL BOARD OF THE ARMENIAN DEMOCRATIC LIBERAL PARTY
Raffi Balian | Secretary
Mike Kharapyan | Chairman
September 14, 2022
