It was Azerbaijan that triggered the four-day war in April 2016 by deliberately targeting the secondary school in the village of Nerqin Tchartar with Grad rockets.

Naira Zohrabyan, member of the National Assembly of Armenia delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), noted about the aforesaid at Thursday’s PACE debates on the report presented by Azerbaijan delegate Sevinj Fataliyeva, and regarding the protection of children during armed conflicts. 

Zohrabyan briefed the Assembly on the Armenophobia policy in Azerbaijan, and called on Fataliyeva to have civil courage and admit that Armenophobia is a state-run policy in her country, Azerbaijan.

“This issue of how to protect children in armed conflicts is a sensitive and important problem,” the Armenian MP said in her remarks. “We have seen some shocking statistics on the number of children who are killed, tortured and fall victim to all kinds of violence in Syria, Yemen and Myanmar. The numbers of child victims of Daesh are appalling. These children are victims of violence not only in the world’s hotspots, but on the territory of states that are locked in cold wars – frozen conflicts.

“The report also mentions the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, where children, women and elderly people continue to be victims of the conflict. No right-minded person would draw any distinction between the nationalities of child victims of conflict, be they Syrian, Yemeni, Armenian or Azeri. But it was Azerbaijan that triggered the four-day war in April 2016 by deliberately targeting the secondary school in the village of Nerqin Tchartar with Grad rockets at the precise time children were in the playground, killing a 12-year-old, Vaghinak Grigoryan, and injuring two other children. I must ask the rapporteur why Azerbaijan deliberately chooses civilians and regions inhabited by them as targets. Indeed, on the same day, 2 April 2016, Azeri military forces attacked the village of Talish, cruelly assassinating members of the Khalapyan family, cutting the ears of old people, and killing and dishonouring Armenian soldiers. I ask you, once again: is this not the state policy of Azerbaijan?

“For years, no burials have been carried out in daylight in Armenian villages on the frontline, because the cemeteries are in the line of sight of Azeri observation posts and there is gunfire every day. Children have to flee and take shelter. Music is played there because otherwise children would be psychologically traumatised by the constant bombardments. I know that the rapporteur will not have the civic courage to admit to Armenophobia and say that this is the State policy of her country, as she would find herself alongside Ilgar Mammadov. However, another Azerbaijani journalist, Ulker Ismayilgzi, has spoken with horror of a textbook ‘The patriotic education of children of pre-school age,’ which has been approved by the Azerbaijani Ministry of Education. It asks children aged five or six: ‘Who are Armenians and what should our civic duty towards them be?’ If we want to protect children, we have also got to protect their souls and spirits. Ms Fataliyeva, you need to safeguard them from the propagation of hatred and xenophobia. I hope that one day you, like your compatriot, will see that there is peace.”