ICRC: From Partnership To Partisanship In Once-Occupied Garabagh

(MENAFN- AzerNews)

Elnur Enveroglu Read more

The International Committee of the Red Cross, which was foundedin 1863 in Geneva, the capital of Switzerland, actually came intobeing as a movement on the initiative of a number of volunteers andorganisation members from different countries around the world.

The organisation began to expand its activities with the goal ofproviding impartial humanitarian aid to countries suffering fromnatural disasters, conflicts, and wars. However, complaints aboutthe organisation began to appear from time to time based on variousmotives.

The activities of the ICRC in Azerbaijan began to expand afterthe 1990s. The conflict that arose in the region against thebackground of the First Garabagh War made the organisation's firstactivities related to helping refugees and searching for missingpersons. Although the ICRC, which entered Azerbaijan for thispurpose, did some work in this direction, it could not neatlyfulfil its mission.

The fact is that after the First Garabagh War, 4354 prisonersand 841 of the missing were civilians. 47 of them were children,268 were women, and 371 were old people.

Unfortunately, we must note that during the analysis of thematerials received by the State Commission, it was determined that550 people were killed in captivity, held hostages, or died aftertorture. Of the killed, 104 were women, 446 were men, and the namesof 74 people are not known.

Despite all these gruesome events, the ICRC did not take anyserious steps towards finding them and returning them.

It is known that when the ICRC was on the side of Armenia, theywitnessed the torture and suffering of the captured Azerbaijanis bythe Armenians. The prisoners were treated with such violence thatthey did not even dare to ask the ICRC for help. Because it couldcost them their lives.

Although the ICRC was aware of the detention of manyAzerbaijanis in prison camps in Armenia, it did not fulfil itsduties and tried to exclude itself from the process under variouspretexts. However, the mission of the organisation was to beimpartial and to do certain things for the safety of every capturedperson.

And finally, during the Second Garabagh War, the ICRC activelyjoined the process of solving the problems of Armenians, and thebodies of more than 1,700 Armenian soldiers were handed over toArmenia. This time, it was possible to feel a different kind ofinitiative in the ICRC's activities. Because the ICRC, acting onthe side of the defeated Armenia, was about to make publicstatements against Azerbaijan on behalf of the Armeniangovernment,.

After the war, the ICRC showed disrespect for international lawand the laws of Azerbaijan by starting to operate autonomously inKhankendi, literally the territory of Azerbaijan. They sided withthe separatist leaders, who were operating illegally in Garabaghand are currently imprisoned in Baku, and adopted arbitrary lawsbased on their words.

It was a fact that 2 centres of the ICRC operated in Azerbaijan, their office in Khankendi had its own budget. They evencarried out independent personnel selection there and operatedmostly in an integrated form in Armenia.

Based on the words of the separatist leaders, the ICRC wasopenly acting against the laws of Azerbaijan on its territory Azerbaijan repeatedly appealed to the ICRC to change thestatus of the Khankendi office, all appeals were ignored.

Humanitarian organization caught insmuggling

Unable to reconcile with the defeat in 2020, the Armenianauthorities attempted to supply weapons to the separatist elementsthat once existed in Garabagh. Each of the weapons and ammunitionsecretly transported from Yerevan to Khankendi in vehicles was aplan for further provocations against Azerbaijan. Of course, theICRC was aware of all this.

During the winter and autumn of 2022, when eco-activistsorganised protests on the Lachin-Khankendi road, the "Khankendioffice" of the ICRC carried out illegal transportation and actuallyengaged in smuggling activities. It is no coincidence that 2employees of the organisation were declared persona non grata andremoved from Azerbaijan at that time.

The insincerity of the ICRC was reflected even in theUkraine-Russia war. The organisation demanded that humanitarian aidbe delivered from Kyiv, not Moscow. But after the 44-day war,despite the fact that Azerbaijan opened the Aghdam road and made itpossible for the aid of the ICRC to be transported through thisroad, the ICRC wanted to make a serious effort to transport the aidthrough the Lachin road. This confirmed what was said about theorganisation politicising issues and acting in accordance withcertain interests.

In addition, the organisation made false statements, believingArmenia's empty assumptions and confusing people. Thus, ArianeBauer, who once headed the Baku office of the ICRC and is currentlythe head of the European and East Asian department of theorganisation, said after the Second Garabagh War that there wouldbe a new war and that there was a need to continue their activitiesin Khankendi for a long time.

Some time ago, it was decided to suspend the activities of theICRC's Khankendi office. It is interesting that this informationwas not released by the institution's Baku office but by theYerevan office.

At present, the Khankendi office has moved to Barda and declaredthat it is operating there. Thus, the organisation still has 2offices in Azerbaijan. But the war has already ended, and there isno need for the ICRC to operate in the territory of Azerbaijan means that it has become necessary for the organisation toconclude its activities and leave Azerbaijan.

Even they think that there may be a need to act in the directionof humanitarian aid in the country, for which there is a RedCrescent organisation that can be an adequate alternative to theICRC in Azerbaijan.

MENAFN09042024000195011045ID1108075660