Photo: © Twitter / Eagle @arden1953
A shocking video showing an Azerbaijani soldier executing an elderly Armenian civilian in Artsakh has gone viral online. The incident is said to be one of a huge number of war-crimes committed by Azerbaijani troops, and their Jihadi allies supplied by Turkey, during the recent conflict in the Artsakh region, known officially as Nagorno-Karabakh.
In the chilling video, an elderly Armenian is held down by an Azeri soldier before having his throat cut open with a knife.
— Kare՛n (@Karen15066021) December 8, 2020
A horrible, horrible video is circulating on Telegram showing Azerbaijani soldiers cutting the throat of an elderly Armenian man in #NagornoKarabakh.
— Thomas van Linge (@ThomasVLinge) December 7, 2020
This is a screenshot of the video in question, which itself it to gut-wrenching to even share a link of. pic.twitter.com/I0NFP32Ga3
NAGORNO KARABAKH: Footage has emerged of Azerbaijani soldiers forcibly holding down what appears to be a civilian before beheading them whilst they are still alive. pic.twitter.com/Qy52eCznd4
— Conflict News (@Conflicts) December 8, 2020
Armenia's Foreign Minister has said there is now the real possibility of a full-blown ethnic cleansing of Armenians in Artsakh following the recent peace-agreement signed between Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia. He said in a statement:
"By launching military aggression against the self-determination of [the province], Azerbaijan and Turkey have violated their international obligations. Azerbaijan has also violated its obligations in the peace process."
While Artsakh sits officially in Azerbaijani territory, it is inhabited by Christian ethnic Armenians who say that they are persecuted by the Azerbaijani state and by some in the Islamic majority. Many of these Armenians wish independence for Artsakh or for the region to be united with the state of Armenia.
Following a short-war in which over 4,000 people died, a peace agreement was signed, much to the anger of many Armenians. The peace-agreement means that all Armenian troops will leave the area and be replaced with Russian peace-keepers for 5 years. Many fear that when the Russians leave, or even before they leave, Azerbaijan will ethnically cleanse the area. Many Armenians from Artsakh have already fled the region and burned their own property to stop it being seized.
Incidents such as this one show that their fear of the Azeris is clearly justified.
It is hardly the first video to come to light showing Azerbaijani war-crimes. In October, a video showed two Armenians being put up against a wall and shot by Azeri troops. The individuals were 25 and 73 years-old. The EU, and France in particular, have called out the actions of the Azerbaijani state and their allies and said that the criminals must be brought to justice.
One of the Jihadi fighters supplied to Azerbaijan by Turkey, who was captured by Armenian forces during the conflict, revealed that the fighters were being paid a few hundred dollars for every Armenian that they could behead. It is believed that the 'Hamza brigade', a Jihadi group that has fought on the behalf of Turkey in the civil wars in Syria and Libya, has been behind many of the crimes. They are suspected of rape, mass-killings and war-crimes in Artsakh, Libya and Syria.
Many Armenians are hoping that the international community will step-in if the Azeris do decide to carry out a full-scale genocide. Many have now lost all faith in their own government for signing the peace-treaty, and fear that Armenia will not be militarily strong enough to protect them should the worst happen.
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