Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 21
By Seba Aghayeva – Trend:
Sudan will join the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) Contact Group on the Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan, Ibrahim Ghandour, Sudanese foreign minister, said.
“Sudan supports the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan,” Ghandour said at a meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov during the 71st regular session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Mammadyarov informed Ghandour about the process of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement and expressed gratitude for supporting Azerbaijan’s position in the conflict.
“The destructive and provocative policy carried out by the Armenian leadership harms the conflict settlement and restoration of peace and stability in the region,” Mammadyarov 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 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Earlier, at the meeting of foreign ministers of the OIC member-states Turkey’s representatives took the initiative of establishing the Contact Group on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The Contact Group held its first meeting as part of the 71st regular session of the UN General Assembly.