Azerbaijan, Baku, 14 October /Trend, S. Agayeva/
Armenia, ignoring international law, is far from constructive work to ensure peace in the region, said the Permanent Representative of Azerbaijan to the UN.
"It is unacceptable aggressive tone of the statements made by President Serzh Sargsyan spoke on September 23 at the general debate of the sixty-sixth session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, shows an apparent disregard for its obligations under the Armenian United Nations Charter and international law, but also demonstrates how far the leadership of the Member State is from being able to work constructively to ensure peace in the region", the Permanent Representative of Azerbaijan to the UN Ambassador Agshin Mehdiyev addressed to the Chairman of the 66th session of UN General Assembly in connection with the statement by President of Armenia made September 23, 2011 at the general debate, according to Trend with reference to the information office of the UN.
Azerbaijan considers the paradoxical fact that the President of Armenia - a country which has the primary responsibility for the war and acts of aggression against Azerbaijan, mass ethnic cleansing, committing other heinous crimes during the conflict and promoting openly racist ideology - is trying to criticize the neighboring countries and to read them notation in matters relating to concepts such as peace, human rights, negotiation and conflict resolution, the document says.
"References to the alleged "frequent anti-Armenian manifestations" in Azerbaijan is ridiculous," said Ambassador Mehdiyev. "President Sargsyan ignores the simple fact that, in contrast to Armenia, which held a full-scale ethnic cleansing as its own territory and the occupied territories of Azerbaijan from allnon-Armenians, Azerbaijan today retains its ethnic and cultural diversity", the ambassador said.
As noted Mehdiyev, in addition, senior Armenian officials regularly make statements that openly promote hatred and intolerance of ethnic and religious lines. According to him, many examples in this regard include the following revelations of former and current presidents of Armenia, representing the most illustrative examples of the concepts of odious ethnic differentiation and racial superiority, the underlying public policy of Armenia.
"So, in 2003, the previous public statements of President Robert Kocharian on "ethnic incompatibility between Armenians and Azerbaijanis" just aroused indignation in the international community. Then Secretary General of the Council of Europe Walter Schwimmer said that "Kocharian's comment amounts to incitement to war," and is a manifestation of "hostile and hateful rhetoric," and then Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Peter Schieder stated that "since its establishment, the Council of Europe never to have heard the "ethnic incompatibility" expression," the letter said.
As noted in a letter Permanent Representative of Azerbaijan to the UN, in resolutions, adopted in 1993 in response to the occupation of Azerbaijani territory, the Security Council specifically noted violations of international humanitarian law, including attacks on civilians and the bombing of residential areas. The European Court of Human Rights later made an important conclusion, describing the attacks invading Armenian forces on Azerbaijani civilians as very serious offenses, which can be regarded as war crimes or crimes against humanity.
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 7 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 the 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.