YEREVAN (PanArmenian)–Three minority groups in several regions of Azerbaijan are warning about the threat of their total annihilation and deportation by Azerbaijan’s Government.
The statement, which was issued by the Dagestani-speaking nations of Azerbaijan, explains that Azerbaijan’s independence came at the expense of Azerbaijan’s aborigines, the Lezgins, Avars, and Tsakhurs.
"Understanding that the aborigine nations did not wish to live in a foreign state, Azerbaijan prevented the conduction of a referendum and suppressed our leaders, using all kinds of state terrorism against our nations,” the statement read.
According to the letter, Azerbaijan has occupied the lands of these three groups and encroached on their rights twice during the twentieth century–once in 1918 and then again in 1991.
During Azerbaijan’s war of aggression against Karabakh, the statement said, tens of thousands of young men from these three aborigine nations were forcibly sent to the front lines to fight, while Azerbaijan continued its policies of repression.
“As a continuation of the cleansing;our intellectuals are arrested during regular police operations,” said the statement.
The letter called on the international community to take immediate action to prevent the ongoing crimes and to initiate the formation of an autonomous region for Lezgins, Avars and Tsakhurs.
The statement also warned that the international communities indifference to their problems will lead to unforeseeable consequences for the entire Caucasus region.