Since Azerbaijan’s brazen and aggressive attacks on civilian and military targets in Armenia’s Tavush Province began on July 12, many political officials around the world have condemned Azerbaijan for breaching Armenia’s sovereignty and for taking advantage of the global pandemic to advance its military rhetoric.
Officials in South America and Australia lent their voices to growing chorus of condemnation by political leaders around the world.
A number of politicians from Uruguay and Argentina expressed their support for Armenia after the news of the escalation of the conflict with Azerbaijan.
The Frente Amplio party of Uruguay issued a statement in which they expressed their “total disapproval of the warlike actions carried out by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces against the Republic of Armenia”, the “rejection of the expressions of the Turkish government in which they supported the actions of Azerbaijan” and marked their solidarity with Armenia on July 17.
The Nagorno-Karabakh Forum in Uruguay issued a declaration in which they “repudiate and strongly condemn the armed aggression of Azerbaijan to the Republic of Armenia, demand the immediate cessation of all acts of violence against the Armenian people and call for full respect for international law” . “With great concern we warn of the danger of larger-scale military aggression and of a regional war reaching the Armenian people of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). It is indisputable that the attacks by Azerbaijan threaten the efforts of the international community to guarantee the right to peace in the region,” they said.
Liliam Kechichian, a senator from Uruguay raised the issue in Congress, saying, “I have just raised in the Senate of our country the enormous concern about the attacks that since July 12 the sovereign territory of Armenia is suffering from Azerbaijan, violating the agreements of Vienna and Saint Petersburg and generating instability in the region.”
The Argentine Senator and ex-Chancellor Jorge Taiana said in declarations to Diario ARMENIA that “we view with extreme concern the recent armed incidents on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the loss of life.” “Argentina supports the political process to guarantee peace led by the Minsk Group created within the framework of the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe (OSCE),” he added. “This process, which was accepted by both countries, was deteriorated in recent months due to Azeri aggressions.”
Ester Mkrtumyan, Armenia Ambassador to Argentina and Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay and Peru, also referred to the current conflict: “Turkey supports Azerbaijan with the warlike statements of the President and his Minister of Defense. The Vice Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan declared that they were going to bomb the Armenian atomic plant, something that would not only affect Armenia but also the entire region, since it is 70 km from the Nakhichevan border and close to Turkey itself.”
Meanwhile in Australia, the co-chairs of the Australia-Armenia Inter-Parliamentary Union (Friendship Group), Trent Zimmerman and Joel Fitzgibbon have released a statement strongly condemning Azerbaijan’s provocative attacks on the Armenian border town of Tavush over recent days, reported the Armenian National Committee of Australia.
The leaders of the Armenian Caucus in Australia’s Federal Parliament called on “Azerbaijan to remain compliant with their ceasefire obligations and with international calls to maintain peace during the COVID-19 crisis” in their statement, released as Azerbaijan escalated threats of furthering their aggression by targeting Armenia’s nuclear power plant.
“As co-chairs of the Australia-Armenia Inter-Parliamentary Union, we are deeply disturbed by the outbreak of hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan following Azeri aggression in the Armenian border region of Tavush,” read the statement from Member for North Sydney Zimmerman and Member for Hunter Fitzgibbon, who is Australia’s former Defense Minister.
“We call on Azerbaijan to remain compliant with their ceasefire obligations and with international calls to maintain peace during the COVID-19 crisis. Too many soldiers have already lost their lives and civilians in Armenian border towns are at risk. We are also concerned about reports of Azeri cyber-attacks on Armenian assets.”
“Breaches of the ceasefire such as this only serve to destabilize an entire region and make the task of the Minsk Group in brokering a lasting peaceful settlement more difficult.”
Zimmerman and Fitzgibbon added: “Azerbaijan must cease aggressive military action and work with Armenia to de-escalate the current conflict.”
ANC-AU Executive Director Haig Kayserian thanked the co-chairs of the Australia-Armenia Inter-Parliamentary Union for their support.
“We are grateful Mr. Zimmerman and Mr. Fitzgibbon have delivered an absolute condemnation of the fundamentalist Azerbaijani dictatorship’s attacks on Armenia’s sovereign borders,” said Kayserian.
“The attacks, coupled with the threats of nuclear terrorism by the Aliyev regime, are deeply concerning for Armenian-Australians, and we are fortunate to have the support of some of Australia’s most respected political leaders.”
