HRC 47th Session: Statement by the Delegation of Armenia during the ID with Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic

06 July, 2021

July 6, 2021

HRC 47th Session: ID with Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic under Agenda Item 4

As delivered by Mr. Nairi Petrossian, Deputy Permanent Representative of Armenia

President,

Last year thousands of Syrian mercenaries took part in the war against Nagorno-Karabakh on behalf of Azerbaijan. Turkey facilitated their recruitment and transfer. The UN Working Group on the use of mercenaries duly reported about it. The actions of these foreign terrorist fighters in Nagorno-Karabakh have been accompanied by most egregious violations of the international humanitarian law and international human rights law, caused enormous suffering and casualties among the Armenian population.

Armenia has been raising the issue of trafficking of mercenaries from the Turkish-controlled Syrian territories to other parts of the world for the last four sessions of the Human Rights Council.

It is our conviction that all violations and abuses of human rights should be meticulously screened by the mechanisms created by this Council. Turning a blind eye emboldens supporters of the terrorist organizations to expand their inhumane practices to other regions of the world.

Hence, Armenia would like to learn what exactly the Commission of Inquiry has done to examine and report about the mentioned violations and abuses that this delegation keeps drawing your attention to for about a year?

I thank you.

First Right of Reply

President,

Armenia requested the floor to exercise its right of reply to Turkey.

While Turkey and Azerbaijan deny that Syrian mercenaries were employed in the recent war of aggression Azerbaijan launched in Nagorno-Karabakh, there have been plenty of evidence widely covered by international mass media, reported and analyzed by civil society organizations, as well as, last but in no way least, confirmed by the leaders of several States and heads of their intelligence services. French President Emmanuel Macron, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Head of the Russian SVR, External Intelligence Service, Sergey Naryshkin, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, have been among them if we are to name just a few.

As early as August of 2020 the rumors started to circulate in the Turkish-controlled areas of northern Syria that there was well-paid work to be had overseas. People were lured into it by lucrative promises to be sentries at checkpoints in Azerbaijan. The promised renumeration offered was US$2 000 a month, which was a fortune for civil war and poverty-stricken country.

Furthermore, two Syrian mercenaries have been detained during the military hostilities and have been tried in a duly held process. The whole process of their recruitment and trafficking to Azerbaijan through Turkish territory, on board of the Turkish military transport aircraft, has been well traced and documented. The most appalling part of their testimony was about a promise of an additional US$100 bounty for a decapitated head of an “infidel” Armenian.

Civil society researchers have amassed considerable amount of evidence, drawn from videos and photographs the Syrian-recruited fighters have posted themselves online. A number of videos filmed by men speaking Syrian Arabic, who identified the factions with which they were affiliated with, had been geolocated to southern front of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. Further video and imagery had shown men identified as Syrians in the Azerbaijani Border Service fatigues. In addition to this, numerous researchers and media outlets have collected testimony from fighters in Azerbaijan themselves, as well as from their family members.

We remind Turkey that recruitment, use, financing or training of mercenaries is an offence under international law, as it is established by the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries. It is our conviction that the recruitment and transfer of mercenaries are violations of human rights and should be treated as such.

I thank you.

Second Right of Reply

President,

Armenia requested the floor to exercise its second Right of Reply to Azerbaijan.

There have been varying estimates about the exact death toll suffered by the Syrian fighters in the armed hostilities unleashed by Azerbaijan against Nagorno Karabakh. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based group that monitors the conflict in Syria, puts the figure at more than 500. According to the most conservative expert estimates, there have been no less than 3,000 Syrian fighters participating in hostilities on the side of Azerbaijan.

Indeed, Azerbaijan denies the use of mercenaries, as it had denied the use of foreign terrorist fighters against Nagorno-Karabakh back in 1990s. However, the facts are stubborn things. And the headlines of the international media back in 1990s as well as now speak for themselves.

The usual answer that Azerbaijan gives to such evidences is that those are “fake news”. The same answer they gave when the Armenian churches were deliberately targeted by precision weapons. They added an insult to an injury by saying that it “may have been a mistake or a provocation by Armenia”.

Rest assured that Armenia will be after the perpetrators and will spare no effort in taking advantage of all possible and available international avenues for the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for these gross violations of international law.

I thank you.

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