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Armenia Re-Ignites Nagorno Karbakh Conflict, Kills 2-Year Old Girl

By Mushvig Mehdiyev July 5, 2017

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Zahra, 2 year-old child in Azerbaijan was killed brutally by the Armenian armed forces in a mortar fire on July 4 / Haqqin.az

In the images, her lifeless body lies on a stretcher coated with dried blood on her baby face, in a hospital. She was smiling and playing with her toys just a day ago, but now little Zahra is dead.

Two-year-old Zahra Guliyeva was brutally killed by Armenian forces on the night of July 4 during a violation of the longstanding ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan, when mortars were launched on the village where Zahra lives, in Azerbaijan’s southwestern Fuzuli district.

Alkhanli village was shelled by 82 and 120-millimeter mortars and heavy grenade launchers at 8:40 p.m. local time on Tuesday. Zahra’s grandmother, 50-year-old Sahiba Guliyeva, was killed, while another villager, Sarvinaz Guliyeva, age 52, has been hospitalized after receiving serious shrapnel wounds during the shelling, according to a statement issued by the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan.

The village of Alkhanli was in shock over the brutal killing of little Zahra and her grandmother in the wake of what is widely seen as another armed provocation by Armenian soldiers to protect their claim to Nagorno Karabakh. 

“This is a grave crime against humanity. Nowhere in the world can there be an excuse for killing civilians, children, women," village resident Gurban Guliyev told the Azeri-Press Agency.

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Two-year-old Zahra lost her life in a mortar fire by the Armenian troops / Haqqin.az

Azerbaijan, a constitutionally secular but predominantly Muslim country roughly the size of Maine and situated in the Caspian and South Caucasus regions, has been at odds with its western neighbor, Armenia, even before their regain of independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. After their independence from the USSR, the two went to war over the landlocked region of Nagorno Karabakh of Azerbaijan, an area Armenian power-brokers had laid claim to as early as 1988, due to the region’s ethnic Armenian population. 

A military campaign by Armenia lasted until a ceasefire in 1994, and resulted in the occupation of Nagorno Karabakh, along with seven surrounding districts, amounting to 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s land mass. Despite the Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement and four UN Security Council Resolutions calling for Armenia to withdraw its forces unconditionally, Armenia has occupied the areas ever since, and heated confrontations between Azerbaijani and Armenian militaries persist.

The illegal presence of Armenia’s armed forces in occupied territories of Azerbaijan is the main reason for the escalation of the situation and the main obstacle to any political settlement regarding Nagorno Karabakh, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said in an official statement on Wednesday.

“The death of a woman and her two-year-old grandchild, the wounding of another civilian . . . is barbarous and proves once more the terrorist nature of the Armenian state,” said ministry spokesman Hikmat Hajiyev.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group, which is co-chaired by the US, Russia, and France and is charged with helping Azerbaijan and Armenia find a peaceful resolution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, issued a statement in regard to the incident in Alkhanli village.

The Minsk Group called for an immediate ceasing of hostilities, saying, “The only responsible and humane way to resolve this long-standing conflict is for the sides to return to the negotiation table in good faith.”

The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan are scheduled to meet in Mauerbach, Austria on July 11 to discuss the state of affairs in Nagorno Karabakh, a meeting which was planned before the July 5 attack. Caspian News could not verify whether or not the meeting in Austria is still scheduled to take place.

Uzeyir Jafarov, a military expert based in Baku, said the Minsk Group’s statement is “baseless” and “unpractical.” He blamed the co-chairs for not coming out with a forceful statement that addresses the issue of Azerbaijani civilians being killed by Armenian forces. 

“Azerbaijan should stop the OSCE Minsk Group-brokered negotiation process over the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. As long as Armenia disrespects international law and norms, Azerbaijan should withdraw from participating,” Jafarov told Caspian News. “The Alkhanli incident proved that the Armenian armed forces have capped the climax. Firing at civilians is not in line with any international and humanitarian laws. Azerbaijan should take serious measures,” he added.

The conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia stretches back almost a century. In 1918, Armenian armed brigades massacred 12,000 Azerbaijanis on ethnic and religious grounds in more than ten cities throughout Azerbaijan, including Baku. During a 1992 military campaign in Khojaly city in Nagorno Karabakh, Armenian armed forces are reported to have killed 613 civilians, among them 106 women, 63 children and 70 elderly.

More recently, the two sides went to war from April 1-4 last year. The “April War,” or “Four Day War” as it is called, is considered the worst outburst of armed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan since 1994. Azerbaijani officials say that Armenia armed forces attacked military positions at midnight, resulting in the death of six civilians, more than 30 injured, and destroying or damaging over 600 houses. Azerbaijan maintains that Armenia’s army used chemical weapons, including white phosphorus bombs, against civilians.