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On-Site Investigation Report on Human Rights in Karabakh

the provinces of Ganja and Mingachevir, which were under heavy attack, were
visited. The findings obtained as a result of the aforementioned visit were
reported and shared with the World Ombudsmen and international organi-
sations working in the field of human rights. 1

The conflicts that started with Armenia’s attack on Azerbaijan on 27 Septem-
ber 2020, were ceased by a statement signed between the Russian Federa-
tion, Armenia, and Azerbaijan on 10 November 2020, and Armenia accepted
the request to withdraw from the occupied raions.

Upon the end of the occupation, the Azerbaijani government started to take
rapid actions so that the resettlement in the occupied region could begin
and that hundreds of thousands of people (IDPs) who had to leave their
homes and migrated from their own lands, could return to their homes as
soon as possible. However, the Ombudsman of Azerbaijan, Ms Sabina Aliye-
va, emphasised that the maps of anti-tank and deadly landmines placed on
Azerbaijani territory by the armed forces of Armenia during the occupation
period were not disclosed by the Armenian government and that it is esti-
mated that hundreds of thousands of anti-tank and deadly landmines that
threaten human life and health are in the liberated Azerbaijani territory. In
this context, she invited the Members of the Board of Directors of OICOA to
visit the Republic of Azerbaijan to monitor the liberated regions of Azerbai-
jan and the humanitarian situation in civilian settlements.

Upon the aforementioned invitation, a study visit was conducted to Azer-
baijan on 14-19 September 2021. Although other Members of the Board of
Directors could not participate due to pandemic conditions and different
measures of countries, the President of OICOA, Mr Şeref Malkoç, and the
Ombudsman Institution Delegation were accompanied by the Secretary
General of OICOA and Deputy Ombudsman of Federal Tax Ombudsman’s
Office in Pakistan, Mr Muhammadi Javed Ghani. The Ombudsman responsi-
ble for women’s and children’s rights, Ms Celile Özlem Tunçak, also took part
in the Ombudsman Institution Delegation.

During the study visit, meetings were held with the Speaker of the National
Assembly of Azerbaijan, Ms Sahibe Gafarova, and the Assistant of the Presi-
dent of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Mr Hikmet Hajiyev, within the framework
of official contacts; in addition, the President of the Board of Azerbaijan Na-
tional Agency for Mine Action, Mr Vugar Suleymanov, was met to receive
information. Following the meetings in Baku, an on-site examination was
carried out in the visits to Shusha, Aghdam, and Fuzuli, which were liberated

1 https://www.ombudsman.gov.tr/document/raporlar/kdk-pdf/AzerbaycanRaporu/mobile/index.html

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