BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec. 12
Trend:
Armenia, which holds 20 percent of Azerbaijani territories under occupation, has submitted a resolution to the UN General Assembly on the occasion of International Chess Day, including “Sport for peace and development: Building a peaceful and better world through sport and Olympic goal” and “peace culture” paragraphs in this resolution, reads a statement distributed by Head of the Azerbaijani community of Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region Tural Ganjaliyev, Trend reports Dec. 12.
"The draft resolution aims to urge the humanity to peace, intellectual and spiritual solidarity, according to the statement. Apparently, this time Armenia is also trying to present itself to the world as a “supporter of peace and solidarity”,” reads the statement.
“In reality, this speaks of the fake, two-faced essence of the Armenian government, hiding under a veil of high values.”
“By what right Armenia, which is guilty in killings of thousands of our compatriots, the country that occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijani lands, holding hundreds of our compatriots captive under terrible conditions, the country that expelled more than one million Azerbaijanis from their native lands and carried out ethnic cleansing, is speaking about peace and solidarity, and is trying to turn chess into a means of achieving its goals?” the statement said.
Ganjaliyev reminded that there were great chess traditions in Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region.
“Thousands of youth representatives were learning this game in the chess schools in Kalbajar and Shusha districts, and I was one of them,” the head of the Azerbaijani community of Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region said. “As a result of the Armenian occupation, the building of the chess school in Shusha and other places in Karabakh was destroyed. Armenia’s reasoning about high values, when it broke not only the destinies of people, but also destroyed wonderful traditions of sports, cultural centers, arouses a sense of disgust.”
“Isn’t it ridiculous that Armenia, caring nothing for the resolutions of such an authoritative organization as the UN Security Council, is now distributing a document in this organization on the occasion of International Chess Day?! The international community must recognize the true essence of Armenia and understand that such high values as peace and solidarity are alien to those in power in this country.”
“Unlike Armenia, Azerbaijani community of Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region, after returning to their native lands, in conditions of fair and permanent peaceful coexistence of two communities within Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized borders, will restore the destroyed chess traditions, and the whole world will witness this,” Ganjaliyev 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, 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 Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts.