Relatives of those killed in explosion at fuel depot in Stepanakert  demand adequate aid to victims by Armenia`s authorities 

ArmInfo. Relatives of those killed in the explosion at the fuel depot in Stepanakert on September  25, 2023, sent an open letter to the Armenian government, parliament, prime minister and defense minister calling for adequate social support to all families affected by the incident.

In the letter, the families of the explosion victims ask the Armenian  authorities to pay attention to their situation and hope that their  voice will be heard. They further recall that the decisions of the  court of first instance and the ruling of the Court of Appeal  actually confirm the status of the victims and missing persons of  September 25 as victims of military actions.

The authors of the letter note that despite the fact that Armenia has  provided temporary protection to forcibly displaced persons from  Artsakh, including the families of the deceased and missing, as well  as the disabled and those who have become disabled, families who have  suffered losses as a result of military actions continue to  experience the need for additional support.

"This problem has remained without due attention for more than a  year, and no clear solutions or plans for its resolution have been  proposed so far. The refugees who lost their relatives as a result of  the explosion at the fuel depot of the Artsakh Defense Army on  September 25, 2023, are in fact in the same and even more difficult  conditions than those who suffered in the war unleashed by Azerbaijan  against the Republic of Artsakh on September 27, 2020.

However, the latter were provided with special support in accordance  with the programs approved by the Armenian government, and there are  no relatives of those injured in the explosion," the letter says.

In this regard, the letter recalled that on November 9, 2020, a  trilateral statement signed by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan,  President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of Russia Vladimir  Putin created a security system for the population of Artsakh, with  which the Republic of Armenia agreed.

"The threat of genocide loomed over the population of Artsakh and the  tragedy occurred during the evacuation of the civilian population.  The cause-and-effect relationship between the evacuation under the  threat of mass extermination and the explosion at the warehouse, in  our opinion, is obvious to everyone.  More than a year has passed  since this terrible tragedy. According to official data, 219 people  died as a result of the explosion, and 22 are still missing," the  authors of the open letter recalled.

At the same time, the appeal notes that the victims are still in an  uncertain legal status, and their families remain without state  support and compensation.

"We have sent numerous written appeals to various state bodies of  Armenia, including the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of  Defense, the Human Rights Defender, and the Ministry of Labor and  Social Affairs. However, in response to our appeals, we have received  only formal responses, which note that the issue "goes beyond the  authority of this body" or "is still under discussion," the letter  says.

In this regard, the relatives of the victims of the explosion called  for recognizing what happened at the fuel depot of the Artsakh  Defense Army as a result of military action and resolving the issue  of compensation for the families of the dead and missing, providing  adequate social support to all those affected by this tragic  incident.

On September 19, 2023, Azerbaijan, under the pretext of an  "anti-terrorist operation", committed another act of aggression  against Artsakh. As a result of the enemy aggression, hundreds of  Artsakh residents were injured, and more than 200 people were  reported killed, including civilians. On September 20, Artsakh fell.   Azerbaijan began the violent subjugation of the NKR. On September 22,  the process of abolishing the Artsakh Defense Army began. Today,  Artsakh is completely de-Armenianized, its entire indigenous  population of over 120 thousand people was forced to flee to Armenia  under threat of physical violence.

We also add that on September 25, near Stepanakert, an explosion  occurred at a fuel depot, a gasoline tank exploded. At the time of  the explosion, there were a large number of people at the scene who  were standing in line for gasoline in order to leave Artsakh amid the  latest Azerbaijani aggression. According to the Investigative  Committee of Armenia, 218 people were killed in the explosion at the  fuel depot, 215 of whom have been identified. At least 120 people  received injuries of varying severity, mainly burns. At the moment,  according to the investigation, the whereabouts of 21 people are  unknown. Since the enemy aggression that began in the fall of 2020,  which in September 2023 ended with the complete ethnic cleansing of  Artsakh, over 150 thousand Artsakh residents have become homeless.