Brussels, Belgium, March 12
By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:
The occupation of the territory of one member state of the Eastern Partnership by another participant of this initiative is unacceptable, Azerbaijan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammad-Guliyev said addressing an event dedicated to the launch of new institutional set-up of Eastern Partnership in Brussels, Belgium.
More than 20 percent of the Azerbaijani territory was occupied by Armenia, and as a result of this conflict more than one million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced persons, their fundamental rights were violated, Mammad-Guliyev said.
The Eastern Partnership is an initiative aimed at improving relations with the CIS countries within the European Union Neighborhood Policy. The Eastern Partnership covers six neighboring countries of the European Union, including Azerbaijan.
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.