Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
By Seba Aghayeva – Trend:
International community is well aware that Armenia, while continuing the occupation of Azerbaijani territories and, as a result, changing the status quo, is impeding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict’s settlement, Hikmat Hajiyev, spokesman of Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry, said.
“The recent statement made by the Armenian leadership in the parliament testifies to this again,” Hajiyev told Trend May 18, adding the statement fully contradicts the updated Madrid principles.
He said the first paragraph of the updated Madrid principles, stipulating a gradual settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, envisages the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied areas adjacent to the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.
“Here the logic is to ensure peace in exchange for the withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied Azerbaijani territories,” Hajiyev said.
He added that the situation of Armenians residing in Azerbaijan presented by the Armenian leadership as “self-determination” has nothing to do with the right to self-determination, which is reflected in the UN Charter and the Helsinki Final Act.
“Abusing the supreme principle of international law – the right to self-determination – the Armenian leadership is trying to conceal their attempts to occupy the territories of neighboring Azerbaijan by using force,” he said.
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.