Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.7
By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:
The continuation of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the biggest obstacle to peace and development in the region, Novruz Mammadov, deputy head of Azerbaijani presidential administration, chief of the administration's foreign relations department, said Oct.7.
He made the remarks during conference “Azerbaijan’s role on global and regional arena: Realities and Prospects” dedicated to the 25th anniversary of Azerbaijan’s independence.
The legal basis for the conflict’s settlement is reflected in the decisions and resolutions adopted by the UN and other international organizations, Mammadov said.
“Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity is supported and recognized in all of these documents. But unfortunately, the international law has remained only as a document over the last ten years,” said Mammadov.
The top official pointed out that the current tension within the international community is a result of incompliance with the international law.
John Kerry, the state secretary of the world’s superpower US, sends a message to the world that allegedly, the leaders are not ready for the conflict’s settlement, he said. “Which logical option the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs have proposed [for the conflict’s settlement] that Azerbaijan hasn’t agreed to?”
“Why Azerbaijan’s seven districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh are not liberated? Which steps were taken by these major states to liberate these seven districts which were populated by hundreds of thousands of people?” asked Mammadov.
Over the past years, OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs have found the following solution: Azerbaijan and Armenia should come to an agreement by themselves, added the top official.
“This is a proof of the unfair and double standard attitude towards Azerbaijan. Armenia states that Azerbaijan is not ready for compromises. Yerevan means that Nagorno-Karabakh should be fully given to Armenia. Kerry’s statement is more similar to this position of Armenia,” said Mammadov.
He pointed out that the relevant bodies of the US should provide an explanation on Kerry’s statements, adding that Armenia tries to protract the conflict’s settlement and such statements give ground to this.
Mammadov added that Khojaly genocide shouldn’t be put aside when talking about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Armenia tries to present the fictitious genocide as real in the world, while the Khojaly massacre is the last genocide committed in the past century and many countries, as well as several US states have recognized this genocide, said the top official.