Baku, Azerbaijan, March 1
Trend:
During the UN Human Rights Council meeting, Armenian foreign minister presented the occupation, aggression, terror and bloody ethnic cleansing against the other state as "self-determination" and talked about higher values, Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hikmet Hajiyev told Trend.
He noted that it is nothing but disrespect to the UN institutions and the international community.
Addressing the meeting of the UN Human Rights Council on the days of the anniversary of Khojaly genocide and political terror in Yerevan (March 1, 2008), Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian talked about the prevention of genocide, protection of human rights and people's right for self-determination, without a sense of guilt and shame, Hajiyev said.
The spokesperson noted that Nalbandian's remarks were full of lies and distortions.
"I would like to refresh the memory of Armenia's foreign minister. Helsinki Final Act, 1975, reads that all principles are interrelated to each other and reflects the importance of applying them on an equal and overall basis," said Hajiyev.
The document also reads that states should refrain from the threat or the use of force against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of each other, according to the spokesperson.
Helsinki Final Act also confirms the principles of inviolability of borders and territorial integrity of states and inadmissibility of occupation of territories, he added.
People's right for self-determination shouldn't be interpreted as the right to act against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of other states, Hajiyev said.
Armenia abuses the principle of the "right for self-determination" in order to cover up the results of occupation of Azerbaijani territories and the ethnic cleansing committed there, Hajiyev added.
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.