Most Victims on Azerbaijani Side Consist of National Minorities, Karabakh Officials Say

By Emilio Luciano Cricchio

Artur Tovmasyan, President of the National Assembly of Karabakh, has stated that the casualties on the Azerbaijani side consist mostly of various national minorities. 

According to intelligence fathered by the Karabakh Defense Army, Azerbaijan is positioning soldiers from its minority groups in high-risk frontline positions, says Vahram Poghosyan, the Spokesman of the President of Nagorno-Karabakh. 

Poghosyan added that roughly 148 Lezgin soldiers were killed in a single area along the Line of Contact between Karabakh and Azerbaijan.  Lezgins are a Northeast Caucasian ethnic group native predominantly to southern Dagestan, Russia and northeastern Azerbaijan.

Karabakh authorities believe that Azerbaijan’s strategy regarding minority groups will lead to instability and demonstrations inside Azerbaijan. 

In a conversation with CivilNet, publicist Zabil Mageramov, an Azerbaijani of Talysh background, confirmed that it’s mostly the members of national minorities that are being sent to the front lines in Azerbaijan. According to him, 50% of the Azerbaijani victims so far are Talysh.