Baku, Azerbaijan, March 14
By Anakhanum Khidayatova - Trend
Pakistan supports Azerbaijan's position on the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Pakistan's President Mamnoon Hussain, who is on an official visit to Baku, said in an interview with Trend news agency, AzTV state television channel and AZERTAC news agency on March 14.
Hussain said Pakistan is one of the countries which first recognized Azerbaijan as an independent country. "From the very beginning, we've had very cordial relations with the country, and people of Azerbaijan."
"We've always supported Azerbaijan's stance, which we think is the right one," Hussain said, adding that Pakistan will always support Azerbaijan on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.
"We are very pleased and grateful to the Azerbaijani people and the country's government that they've always supported us on issues of Jammu and Kashmir," the Pakistani president added.
During his official visit, Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
During the visit, a number of documents were signed between the two countries: Joint Declaration on Strategic Partnership between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Agreement between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan on Extradition of Prisoners and the Cooperation Program (2015-2017) between ADA University of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Foreign Service Academy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
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