Azerbaijan, Baku, June 23 / Trend, S. Aliyev /
Nagorno-Karabakh is an ancient Azerbaijani territory, and I have no doubt that Azerbaijan will restore its territorial integrity, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in his opening remarks to the 35th annual meeting of the Islamic Development Bank.
"Resolving the conflict is possible only within Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. International organizations supporting our fair position have adopted numerous resolutions and decisions," Aliyev said.
The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh has caused problems in the country and the region for many years," Aliyev added.
"Using this opportunity I'd like once again to express my gratitude to all our brothers and sisters - Muslims for their support to Azerbaijan in its law practice. As a result of Armenia's unfounded territorial claims against Azerbaijan, 20 percent of the internationally recognized Azerbaijani territory is under the Armenian occupation. As a result of this policy of occupation and ethnic cleansing, one million Azerbaijanis have become refugees and IDPs. We can say all the buildings and the infrastructure of the occupied lands were destroyed as a result of the occupation. Our museums were plundered, the museum pieces were stolen, our ancestors' graves were damaged, our historical monuments, mosques were destroyed by the Armenian vandals," Aliyev said.
According to the President, the occupied territories have become a dead zone.
"Azerbaijanis have lived on these lands for centuries. Armenia's occupation policy is continues to this day. Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding lands are under illegal occupation for years. Today, my dear Ahmed Mohammed Ali expressed his opinion on this matter. The UN Security Council, that is, the supreme authority at the international level, adopted four resolutions on the question, which clearly state that the Armenian occupant forces must leave Azerbaijan's territories unconditionally. The OSCE, the European Parliament and all other international organizations recognize and support Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. But Armenia ignores these rules of international law. Armenia ignores the resolutions the international organizations, but the occupation policy must be stopped. Azerbaijan's territorial integrity must be restored and people suffered from the occupation should return to their ancestors' lands," he said.
Ilham Aliev one again stressed that the Nagorno-Karabakh is very big and hard problem for the country after independence.
"Nevertheless, we have passed a long and honourable way during our independence. The situation was tough in the country in 1991 when Azerbaijan gained its independence. The Armenian aggression on the one hand, and the adverse processes in the country, the economic crisis and regression on the other almost paralyzed the country. But as a result of the Azerbaijani people's will and Azerbaijan's great leader Heydar Aliyev's work Azerbaijan honourably survive the crisis. In the mid 1990s we achieved stability both economically and politically. It enabled us to commence rapid development. Since then, overall development of Azerbaijan has created conditions to solve problems the county was facing," the President said.
Aliyev said, today's meeting has a special place in the country's life.
"Azerbaijan is a country with great history. Today, our friend, Dr. Ahmed Muhammad Ali told a lot valuable remarks about Azerbaijan's history. We have great culture, but the history of our independence is not so long. Therefore, in some cases the world hasn't enough information about Azerbaijan, but this is temporary. Over time, more and more people will know about Azerbaijan, get accurate and disinterested information about the country. We are eager to expand this cooperation with the Muslim world.
We want the Muslim countries always support each other. We must support each other in all international organizations. We are doing that, but we must do it even in greater volume and at the highest level. Our strength lies in unity. We hold identical ideas, and we want peace, tranquillity and justice worldwide. We want all occupant forces to liberate the occupied lands. Victims of the occupation should return to their homes, historic lands. We want justice to win in the world. But it's not an easy question. Unfortunately, there is a lot injustice. We should make joint efforts in combating this injustice and must show truth. On the other hand, we must increase our strength based on economic opportunities," Aliyev stressed.