Sweden exhibit sheds light on Armenia's Karabakh crimes

STOCKHOLM

A photo exhibition on the atrocities committed by Armenia during its decades-long occupation of the Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-Karabakh was held in Sweden’s capital on Saturday.

The exhibit, organized in Stockholm by the Swedish Azerbaijani Association (SAF), featured photographs of civilians maimed by land mines planted by Armenian forces.

“We want people in Sweden to see the massacres and atrocities committed by Armenia during its 30-year occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh,” Sevda Dadasheva, president of SAF, told Anadolu Agency.

Armenia occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Upper Karabakh, internationally recognized as Azerbaijani territory, and seven adjacent regions in 1991.

Last September, the Armenian army launched attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces in the area, violating several humanitarian cease-fire agreements.

Azerbaijan, supported by Turkey, mounted a successful response and liberated several cities and nearly 300 settlements and villages in a 44-day conflict that ended after a Russia-brokered cease-fire on Nov. 10.

“We recently liberated the Nagorno-Karabakh region from Armenian occupation. Still, though, the Armenian army has planted mines in the area to prevent Azerbaijanis from returning to their ancestral lands and continues to do so,” said Dadasheva.

“More than 1 million Azerbaijanis have been unable to return to their native lands. This should be considered a war crime.”

* Writing by Busra Nur Cakmak in Ankara