EU condemns killing of Zakhra Guliyeva by occupants of Karabakh

The world community should not remain indifferent to the brutal and inhuman murder of a two-year-old girl, Zakhra Guliyeva, killed as a result of a provocation in the Alkhanli village of Fizuli region of Azerbaijan on July 4, the head of Azerbaijan's Ministry of Justice Fikret Mammadov said at the meeting of the Ministers of Internal Affairs and Justice of the EU and Eastern Partnership countries in Tallinn, the ministry said.

Speaking about the tragic consequences of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict at the meeting, which involved high-ranking officials of the European Union and the ministers of the Eastern Partnership countries, Fikrat Mammadov drew attention to the death of two-year-old Zakhra Guliyeva and her grandmother Sahiba Guliyeva as a result of another provocation by the Armenian Armed Forces in the Alkhanli village of Fizuli region, AzerTAc reported.

The Azerbaijani minister emphasized that the international organizations and the countries should do their best to ensure that, in accordance with the resolutions of the UN Security Council, the Armenian Armed Forces were unconditionally withdrawn from the occupied Azerbaijani territories, and the forced migrants would return to their homes.

Azerbaijan's Ministry of Justice added that voicing the situation at the meeting aroused concern among the delegation from Yerevan. In addition, the Azerbaijani side circulated a statement to the delegations in connection with the assassination of Zakhra and Sahiba Guliyeva, all participants' attention was drawn to this topic at all the talks and meetings.

On July 4, around 20:40, as the result of targeted and deliberate attacking of civilians and civilian objects of the Alkhanli village of Fizuli region of Azerbaijan by armed forces of Armenia with 82 and 120 mm mortars and heavy grenade launchers, Sahiba Guliyeva (born in 1967) and her 2 years old granddaughter Zahra Guliyeva were killed. Another civilian Sarvinaz Guliyeva (born in 1965) was wounded and hospitalized.

The director of the Institute of Political Studies Sergei Markov, speaking with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that Europe is not yet ready to pay serious attention to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, "because it considers it to be somewhere far away on the periphery and that it does not affect the conflicts significant for it inside the European Union and its perimeter."

"Therefore, I think the reaction will be restrained, a formal condemnation will be sounded, but nothing factual will be done. At the same time, diplomats are well aware that Azerbaijan will be forced to react, because killed peaceful people are a very strong irritant for the Azerbaijani public opinion. I think there will be no reaction from European interior ministers, but the foreign ministers will draw the conclusion that unless efforts are made to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, then clashes may resume," Sergei Markov expects.

PhD, head of the expert council of Baku Network, Elkhan Alasgarov, drew attention to the fact that the reaction of European media and politicians to the killing of Sakhiba and Zakhra Guliyeva is wider than to the previous incidents in the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. "The statements came from the PACE, the OSCE and representatives of a number of states. This event was covered by the leading Western media - CNN, BBC, Euronews, the agencies of Spain and Italy. German TV reported that there will be a rally against the killing of a little girl. Her death prompted the European community to more actively perceive what is happening in the conflict zone and to condemn the Armenian side and support the Azerbaijani side on the issue of the settlement and its territorial integrity," he said.

"Of course, the main factor in the reaction of European media and society to the killing of a girl and her grandmother is not the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict itself, but the humanitarian factor: the Europeans perceive the shootings of civilians extremely negatively. Azerbaijan has repeatedly stated that the presence of the Armenian troops in the occupied territories is the main obstacle for the peaceful coexistence of the Azerbaijani and Armenian population, because its positions are only 3-4 km from Azerbaijani settlements," Elkhan Alasgarov recalled.

The expert explained that the shelling of the peaceful population of Azerbaijan is Armenia's new military doctrine. "Yerevan uses shelling of villages to prevent the return of the Azerbaijani population to the occupied territories. As you know, the Jojug Marjanli village has been restored. These arguments are known to our Foreign Ministry and diplomatic representations abroad, protests were held in foreign countries, including Moscow. The resolution of the Karabakh problem is topical, primarily in the humanitarian sense, in order to prevent further casualties among civilians," the head of the expert council of Baku Network concluded.