The aggression by the Republic of Armenia against the Republic of Azerbaijan made a great negative impact to the occupied Azerbaijani territories.

Unfortunately, demands of the Security Council to immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all occupying forces from the territories of Azerbaijan remained unfulfilled, and lack of an appropriate reaction encouraged Armenia to continue its illegal actions in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

Attempts of Armenia to consolidate the results of its armed aggression through ruthless exploitation of the natural resources in the occupied territories and transfer of settlers of Armenian ethnicity into those territories of Azerbaijan forced Azerbaijan to bring the issue to the attention of the General Assembly.

The item entitled "The situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan" was included into the UN General Assembly agenda of the 59th and 60th sessions in order to provide an opportunity to address the occupation and its consequences. The report of the OSCE fact-finding mission to the occupied territories confirmed the concerns of Azerbaijan regarding the settlement of Armenians into those territories and stressed the inadmissibility of changing the demographic situation therein.

Today I would like to bring to the attention of the international community an urgent matter that requires consideration and immediate international action.

We were shocked by the credible information on the incidents of massive fires taking place in the eastern part of the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, particularly the mountainous and plain terrain used for agricultural and living purposes in the seized by Armenians Agdam and Khojavend districts.

We obtained satellite imagery of those districts, which provide a more detailed picture of these barbaric actions undertaken by the Armenian side.

On the 132,2 square km area a number of towns, villages, agricultural lands, cultural and historical monuments, existing flora and fauna, living dwellings have been destroyed or burnt by the fire.

Comparison of satellite images of 2005 and 2006 shows that these territories in 2005 were completely untouched by fire. This fact proves that these fires have been taking place in the course of 2006.

Analyses of the satellite photos confirm that fires are of a large scale and will have disastrous consequences for the entire ecological system of those occupied territories and the region as a whole.

The whole burnt area could be divided into five larger parts of almost equal size. More detailed focus demonstrates that these parts are separated from each other by lanes, which remained untouched by the fire. The lanes are clearly seen and their several kilometers width proves that the fire could hardly spread from one part to another bypassing them.

Moreover, fires in five larger parts are localized and separated from each other by roads, channels and other non-burnt areas. Thus, it is apparent that simultaneous inflammation in several areas separated from each other and their massive and targeted character gives reasonable ground to suggest that they are man-made and intentional.

Even if they are nature-caused Armenia as the occupying power bears full responsibility for suppressing the fires.

By all means, these actions by Armenia constitute a gross violation of international humanitarian law, in particular the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the protocols additional thereto.

I appeal to the whole international community to express a strong unified position in response to illegal actions of Armenia in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan such as using destructive flames to make those territories unsuitable for living and cultivating.

The massive fires will cause serious and to a certain extent irreversible damage to the ecological system of those occupied territories. Such acts of vandalism and destruction have to be widely condemned. Adequate response should be taken to suppress the fire and assess the damage inflicted upon the environment in those territories.


June 19, 2006
Baku, Azerbaijan