Sharing the pain and sorrow with regard to the death of two and serious injury of one civilian in the Azerbaijani village of Alkhanli on July 4, 2017;

Noting that despite the establishment of ceasefire in May 1994, hundreds of civilians have become victims and a number of civilian objects have been damaged on both sides;

Underlining that as a direct result of the four-day war unleashed by Azerbaijan in April 2016, the security of civilian population has become particularly vulnerable, and the relative peace in the region has got far more fragile;

Expressing resentment over the impunity, moreover the glorification of Azerbaijani servicemen, who during the last year’s aggression killed and wounded Armenian children in Martuni school yard, and cynically tortured and mutilated the civilians of Armenian village of Talish and the Armenian captured soldiers;

Stating that the absence of an adequate response to war crimes increases the brutality and inhumanity of the acts;

Joining the civil society representatives’ call addressed to competent international and national bodies to thoroughly investigate the tragic incident in Alkhanli village, as well as the preceding cases of deaths of civilians and destruction of civilian objects on both sides of the line of contact;

Recalling official Baku’s responsibility for the non-implementation of the agreements reached in May 2016 upon the installation of ceasefire monitoring mechanisms;

Considering the claims put in the neighboring country before the OSCE Minsk Group and other international entities to investigate the latest single incident as another manifestation of hypocrisy, inconsistent, unilateral and destructive approach to the resolution of the problems;

Pointing out that the closure of OSCE Office in Yerevan on the initiative of official Baku makes obvious the latter’s tendency to diminish the role of international institutions;

Remaining committed to the principles of political resolution of Karabakh conflict through negotiations,

We, the members of Armenian National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum (EaP CSF ANP), call on:

- the parties of conflict to categorically avoid the deployment and use of firing points in human settlements, eliminate skirmishes, armed clashes and acts of sabotage, which may harm civilians; 

- European Union and international community in general to exert firm pressure on Azerbaijan so that the latter stops blocking the agreements reached in Vienna on May 16, 2016 and Saint Petersburg on June 20, 2016  on the installation of ceasefire monitoring mechanisms;  

- colleagues within EaP Civil Society Forum to express their position of principle on the necessity of immediate installation of the above-mentioned mechanisms, as well as elimination of artificial obstacles, including the unlawful repressions against journalists and activists, for a non-formal and constructive dialogue between the representatives of Armenian and Azerbaijani civil societies.