Turkic Council condemns Armenia’s attack on Azerbaijan

By Dilan Pamuk

ANKARA (AA) – The Turkic Council on Saturday denounced Armenia’s recent missile attack on Azerbaijan’s Ganja city.

“Bombing civilians is against international humanitarian law. The Turkic Council condemns Armenia’s new arbitrary attacks by ballistic missiles on Ganja & civilians,” the council said on Twitter.

They urged Armenian forces to stop attacking civilians and withdraw their occupying forces from Azerbaijani lands.

Omer Kocaman, deputy secretary general of Turkic Council, said these attacks constitute “war crimes.”

The Turkish Council, or the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States, was established in 2009 as an international intergovernmental organization, with the overarching aim of promoting comprehensive cooperation among Turkic-speaking states.

The council consists of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan as member states and Hungary as the observer state.

Early Saturday, at least 13 civilians were killed, including four women and three minors, and nearly 50 others injured, when Armenian missiles struck Ganja.

Some 20 women and five minors were also among the injured, while two children are still missing, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Azerbaijan said.

More than 20 houses were also destroyed in the attack.

It was Armenia’s second deadly assault on Ganja in less than a week, an area far from the front line with a population of half a million.

Along with Ganja, a hydroelectric power plant in Mingachevir was also targeted by the Armenian army at around 1 a.m. local time Saturday (2100GMT Friday), but its missiles were neutralized by Azerbaijan’s air defense.

Since new clashes erupted between the two countries on Sept. 27, Armenia has continued its attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces.

As of midday Saturday, Armenia has killed at least 60 Azerbaijani civilians and injured 270 more, according to Azerbaijani officials.

The number of houses damaged in Armenian attacks has reached 1,704, along with 90 residential buildings and 327 civil facilities, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office of Azerbaijan.

*Writing by Dilan Pamuk in Ankara