Baku, Azerbaijan, July 20
By Seba Aghayeva – Trend:
There are resolutions of the UN Security Council that condemn the occupation of the territories of the countries and it will be possible to achieve the settlement of conflicts in case of avoiding the policy of double standards, Azerbaijani Ambassador on Special Foreign Ministry Missions Shahin Abdullayev said.
Abdullayev made the remarks at an international conference dedicated to Jerusalem, which is being held in Baku July 20.
"Our economic, cultural and humanitarian relations with Israel do not hamper us to support Palestine," he added.
“Azerbaijan is doing its best to help resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and always openly declares its position on the conflict,” Abdullayev said.
"Azerbaijan itself has been suffering from the conflict [Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict] for many years,” he said. “Twenty percent of the country's territories have been occupied by Armenia and it binds us to take a clear position on this issue."
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.