CANBERRA: The Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU) has called on the Australian government and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group Co-Chairs to condemn Azerbaijan’s military aggression on Armenia’s north-eastern border region, which took place in the early hours of December 29, 2016 (local time).

The Azerbaijani attacks on the village of Chinari in the Tavush province has led to the fatalities of three Armenian military servicemen, Chief Lieutenant Shavarsh Meliksetyan and Privates Edgar Narayan and Erik Abovyan, who were killed in defending the unprovoked mortar- and gun-fire sabotage attack.

ANC-AU Managing Director Vahe Kahramanian stated:“This is yet another example of Azerbaijan’s increasing belligerence we have witnessed throughout 2016. We call upon the Australian government and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs immediately and unequivocally to condemn this latest act of naked aggression against the territorial integrity of Armenia by the Aliyev oil-dictatorship in Baku.”

Kahramanian added: “It is also painfully clear that the ‘artificial even-handedness’ by the OSCE Co-Chairs and the international community in not calling out Azerbaijan for its continuous aggression. This aggression was highlighted by Aliyev’s failed blitzkrieg in the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) in April of this year, which left hundreds dead, and included numerous human rights violations and war-crimes by the Azerbaijani forces. Such unchecked aggression has emboldened Azerbaijan not only to attack Artsakh, but also the Republic of Armenia.”

“The OSCE and the wider international community should compel Azerbaijan to honour its agreement during the OSCE brokered peace talks in Vienna in May this year to implement (without conditions and obstructions) mechanisms that would thoroughly investigate all breaches of the cease-fire agreements in 1994 between Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan that set the current ceasefire contact line between Artsakh and Azerbaijan,” Kahramanian concluded.