Senior official: Azerbaijan’s strategy aimed at liberation of occupied territories
Despite ancient traditions of the statehood, Azerbaijan is a
young country, and in the past two decades we have managed to
transform the country into a modern state, head of Political
Analysis and Information Supply Department of the Administration of
the President of Azerbaijan Elnur Aslanov said at Baku Futures
Forum on June 3.
"In recent years Azerbaijan has turned into a venue of global
forums for discussing pressing international issues, including
World Economic Forum's Strategic Dialogue on the Future of the
South Caucasus and Central Asia; Club de Madrid forum in the
Caucasus, and, of course, the 2nd World Forum on Intercultural
Dialogue," he said.
The Presidential Administration's official believes that this stems
from growing significance and role of the country in the region and
the world.
"Azerbaijan is one of the unique places where different cultures
and civilizations meet at the crossroad between the East and the
West, the North and the South," he added.
According to Aslanov, being a member of both Islamic and European
organizations Azerbaijan absorbs the values of both
civilizations.
"This enables us to assume a role of a center of geopolitical,
geo-strategic and geo-economic importance in Eurasia," he said.
He noted that besides rich culture, ancient history and traditions,
Azerbaijan is widely known for its oil and natural gas.
"After we regained our independence in 1991, Azerbaijan pioneered
development of the Caspian energy resources and their integration
in European energy security infrastructures," he said.
Aslanov recalled that it was the National Leader Heydar Aliyev who
secured the largest single foreign investment in the former Soviet
Union - an oil contract, which later became known as the "Contract
of the Century", and thanks to him Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline
became the most significant infrastructure project in the region,
delivering oil from the Caspian Sea to the open ocean.
He noted that all these long term projects, including
Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline and the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway
projects, and Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline - TANAP have a great
importance for ensuring Europe's energy security.
"Yet, unfortunately, unresolved conflicts represent a long-term
challenge to our efforts to promote prosperity, security and
stability in the whole Euro-Atlantic area," Aslanov noted.
Further speaking about the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
Aslanov stated that despite ongoing political efforts towards the
earliest resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, activities
in the occupied areas of Azerbaijan are in gross violation of
international law.
"April of this year marked the 20th anniversary of the first UN
Security Council resolution on the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict -
UNSC Resolution 822. But Armenia never complied with neither with
this, or with following three UNSC resolutions pertaining to the
conflict. While the world is silent regarding this issue, Armenia
uses their silent support to further consolidate of the status-quo
of occupation," he said.
Aslanov noted that Azerbaijan's strategy is aimed at the liberation
of all occupied territories, the return of forcibly displaced
population to their homes, and the establishment of long-lasting
peace and stability in the entire South Caucasus.