Call of the Union of Journalists of Armenia to all active media organizations and human rights organizations of the world
On October 1, the fifth day of the war unleashed against Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and Armenia with the overt support of Turkey, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces targeted journalists performing their professional duties in Artsakh.
And so:
1․ In the city of Martuni of Artsakh, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces shelled journalists of the French Le Monde newspaper and their escorting personnel, as a result of which citizens of France (two journalists of Le Monde) were seriously wounded, while the resident of Martuni escorting the group was killed during the shelling. President of France Emmanuel Macron has touched upon the incident.
2․ The crew of “ZHAME” (HOUR) news program of Armenia’s ARMENIA TV station were also attacked while providing coverage of the hostilities (the cameraman of the crew was wounded).
3․ A journalist for the Armenian 24News.am online TV company was among the group of journalists who were under target fire of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces in Martuni.
4․ The same day, the deputy editor of Дождь (Dozhd) TV company was also shelled.
5․ The five-member crew of Armenia’s CivilNet TV was also exposed to shelling in the city of Martuni.
6․ The Azerbaijani Armed Forces also targeted the vehicle transporting the journalists of Agence France-Presse (AFP) who were carrying out their journalistic mission in Artsakh.
The journalists affected by Azerbaijan’s attacks are being provided with medical assistance and are even undergoing difficult surgeries.
The attacks of October 1 are the continuation of the attacks made over the past few days, including the following:
1․ On September 28, an unmanned aerial vehicle targeted the crews (journalists and cameramen) of the Armenian SHANT TV Company and Tert.am news website
The Azerbaijani Armed Forces are targeting not only peaceful civilians of Artsakh, but also journalists performing their professional duties in the war zone. Moreover, this is targeted — all the journalists have PRESS logos, but this does not bother the Azerbaijani Armed Forces from shelling them. This sparks substantiated doubt that Azerbaijan is deliberately targeting journalists, perhaps with the purpose of preventing journalists from reporting the real information about the war to the international community. With this, Azerbaijan is violating several international conventions and agreements, and there must be an adequate evaluation from the relevant institutions.
The Union of Journalists of Armenia calls on all active media organizations and human rights organizations of the world to give an adequate evaluation of the condemnable actions of Azerbaijan of targeting journalists, with the demand to ensure the international norm of protection of neutrality towards journalists providing coverage of the military operations.
The Union of Journalists of Armenia expresses gratitude to all journalists who are putting their lives on the line and the representatives of the technical staffs supporting those journalists for performing their professional duties and reporting credible and impartial news about the war imposed on us Armenians at a crucial moment for us Armenians. We express condolences to the family and all the relatives of the young person who was escorting the group of journalists of Le Monde. We wish all of our wounded and affected colleagues a speedy recovery.
Union of Journalists of Armenia
