Azerbaijan, Baku, March 30 / Trend, E.Tariverdiyeva /
Azerbaijan doesn't claim any territory within Armenia, as reported by "Adventure & Travel: Discovering the Forgotten Holy Land" Off Duty journal dated March 24. On the contrary, Armenia has been illegally occupying Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, Counselor for Political Affairs at the Embassy of Azerbaijan, Nasimi Aghayev's letter published by The Wall Street Journal says.
"Since the early 1990s Armenia has been illegally occupying around 20% of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven adjacent districts. The illegal nature of the occupation and the expulsion of Azerbaijani citizens from the occupied territories are widely recognized and have been condemned by, among others, the United Nations Security Council," Aghayev writes in his letter.
As for the problems with attracting tourists to and the overall economic stagnation in Armenia, it goes without saying that the soonest resolution of the protracted Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict will enable Armenia to open all communications with its neighbors, join regional integration efforts, steadily develop its economy and fully harness its tourism potential, and thus bring the long-desired prosperity to its population, Aghayev writes.
"Hence, for the sake of Armenia's own future, it is high time for the country's leadership to demonstrate statesmanship, and seriously and constructively engage itself in peace talks with Azerbaijan," the letter says.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France and the U.S. - are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.