Azerbaijan, Baku, July 8 / Trend E. Mehdiyev /
Armenia differently perceives the calls for peace made by co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group, other representatives and heads of the countries, Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Political Analysis and Information Provision Department Head Elnur Aslanov said at the international conference on "Conflicts in the Caucasus: History, Present and Prospects for Settlement" on Monday.
"Azerbaijani territory has been occupied by Armenia for over 20 years," he said.
"The UN Security Council's resolutions on the liberation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenian forces have not been fulfilled for more than 20 years," he said. "This is Armenia's attitude to the UN Security Council's resolution, the international law, justice, and in particular, politics in the region. This policy differs with destructiveness and it could turn into one of the factors contributing to the socio-economic decline of the South Caucasus."
"Despite all these difficulties, Azerbaijan has done much for 20 years of its development," he added.
"Today, Azerbaijan's military budget is more than Armenia's total budget," he said. "Today, Armenia's economic situation is characterized by the fact that around 100,000 people leave the country annually. Armenia's current economic situation is similar to that of early 1990s'.
This is a result of the destructive policy conducted by state leaders in connection with the conflict, the policy as a result of which millions of people in the region live as refugees."
"If more than one million are refugees and internally displaced persons, then more than one million people are living in a very difficult and deplorable socio-economic situation in Armenia," he added.
"No end is in sight," he added. "The end can be put when Armenia withdraws its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding occupied regions, when it will liberate the Azerbaijani territories and direct the current policy on the restoration of peace, stability and tranquility in the region. Unfortunately, we do not see this."
"If Armenia agreed upon the proposals and had not understood the calls for peace as tightening the status quo, the situation would change greatly.
"But, unfortunately, Armenia differently perceives the calls for peace made by co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group, other representatives and heads of the countries," he said. "Armenia sees this as an extension of the status quo, as a continuation of the current situation and believes that the calls for peace mean that Azerbaijan will not resort to other options, though the international law and other principles give us a chance at any time to use other possibilities to return back the Azerbaijani territories."
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent 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 four U.N. Security Council resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.