Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 5
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Azerbaijan will raise an issue before the Russian Foreign Ministry about the initiative of the Armenian prime minister’s wife Anna Hakobyan to organize an illegal visit of Russia’s women to Azerbaijan’s occupied territories, Leyla Abdullayeva, spokesperson of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, told Trend Oct. 5.
She was commenting on Hakobyan's campaign “Women for Peace” and in this context the intention of a group of women from Russia to visit the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.
"As a woman and a mother, I can understand that the "Women for Peace" initiative launched by Armenian Prime Minister's spouse Mrs. A.Hakobyan is based on the humanitarian principles. But, if the main purpose of this initiative is to prevent the death of young soldiers and innocent people, then it is necessary to look at very roots of the problem and to answer the question "What are the soldiers of Armenia doing on the territory of Azerbaijan?” Mrs. A.Hakobyan did not properly select the targets for her humanitarian mission; in order to prevent the death of young people, first and foremost, she should start from the public of Armenia, urge Armenia to end the occupation of the Azerbaijani territories and refrain Armenian women and mothers to send their sons to the occupied lands of Azerbaijan," said Abdullayeva.
She noted that obviously, this initiative is aimed in the current situation, in particular, before the elections, for the domestic audience of Armenia.
"However, it should be taken into account that such initiatives under the name of “humanitarian mission”, encouraging a group of women from the Russian Federation to visit the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, do not comply with the mandate of Russia as the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair country, do not serve the conflict settlement purposes, and also, do not meet the spirit of the conversation held in Dushanbe between the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Armenian Prime Minister. This issue will be raised by the Embassy of The Republic of Azerbaijan in Moscow with the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation," she 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.
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