Participants of Karabakh war demand status of war veterans from Azerbaijan’s MoD

At a protest action in Baku, activists have complained that the Ministry of Defence does not assign the status of veterans to combatants in Nagorno-Karabakh, and that fact deprives them of the right to benefits.

Today, several dozen participants in the 2020 Karabakh war have gathered in front of the building of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Azerbaijan. They demand that they should be granted the status of war veterans. The protest action has gathered people from Imishli, Salyan, Guba, Saatly, and other regions of Azerbaijan. They complained that the country’s MoD did not give them the status of war veterans, so they could not receive state benefits, reported the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent, who visited the site of the protest.

“For two years we have been going around with our demands. We have applied to the military units in which we served, to the presidential administration, to the Milli Majlis (parliament), but we receive stereotyped empty answers ... [In 2020], I left my wife at home with two children and went to the front. They tell us everywhere that we are not war veterans, as we do not have any document confirming that. And the Ministry of Defence informs us that our names are not in their database of combatants,” Agasef Aliev from the city of Barda told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

“The President of Azerbaijan said that all the participants in the war would receive their due. Why there is an injustice against us? I appeal to the President: please, pay attention to us,” complained Azer Alirzaev, another participant of the protest action.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 28, 2022 at 01:41 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.