Armenia far from civilized behavior
The two Azerbaijanis Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev have been kept hostage by Armenian militaries in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan for four years already. They were detained by the Armenian armed forces in July 2014 while visiting their native places and graves of loved ones in the occupied Azerbaijani Kalbajar region. Moreover, Armenian armed forces killed the third Azerbaijani Hasan Hasanov.
Later, Guliyev and Asgarov were judged illegally by the unrecognized courts of the separatist regime in the occupied NagornoKarabakh. Following an expedited “judicial process” in December 2015, Asgarov was sentenced to life imprisonment and Guliyev – to 22 years in prison.
“Photos of Asgarov and Guliyev before and after getting taken hostage prove that during their staying hostage they are subjected to inhuman treatment, physical and moral torture. As a result, both of them suffer from various serious diseases,” Hajiyev said.
He added that the Armenian side, by deliberately showing an inhuman attitude to the hostages in the media, subject their family members and relatives to psychological pressure.
“Violating the norms and principles of international law and the UN Charter, Armenia, by the use of force, occupied Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions,” Hajiyev said.
The spokesman also noted that as a result of the ethnic cleansing, more than one million Azerbaijanis, including Asgarov and Guliyev and their families, were forcibly expelled from their homes.
“Since 1993, Asgarov and Guliyev and their families have been living the lives of internally displaced persons. Their homesickness that had been continuing for more than 20 years prompted them to visit their occupied lands, and from this point of view their desire to see their homes and the graves of parents was understandable,” Hajiyev said.
He added that the illegal arrest of Guliyev and Asgarov and Armenia’s refusal to release them causes the just anger of the Azerbaijani public.
During the press conference, Hajiyev also noted that the campaign carried out by the Armenian media in connection with the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s son doing military service in Karabakh has been turned into a show.
He noted that in this way the populist government of Pashinyan is trying to maintain its rating and image in the society.
“The 100 days of Pashinyan’s government are approaching, but instead of taking serious steps to solve the aggravated social, political and economic problems during these hundred days, the Armenian government is trying to maintain its rating through populist steps,” Hajiyev said.
The spokesman added that sending Armenian citizens to do military service on the territory of Azerbaijan is another proof that Armenia is an aggressor country.
“Such actions are not constructive and do not serve to ensure peace in the region,” he stressed.
Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan by laying territorial claims on the country. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including NagornoKarabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.
To this day, Armenia has not implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions.