No progress in solving Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: Deputy PM
By Sara Rajabova
Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister said the world community does not use its opportunities to exert pressure on Armenia.
Ali Hasanov, who is also a chairman of the State Committee for Affairs of Refugees and IDPs, made remarks at a meeting with South Korean Ambassador to Azerbaijan Choi Suk-Ying on April 22.
Hasanov said there has been no progress in resolving the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict so far.
He added that the world community does not use its leverage over Armenia and turn a blind eye to the violation of rights which has turned 1,200,000 people into refugees and IDPs.
Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that caused a brutal war in the early 1990s. Long-standing efforts by U.S, Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.
As a result of the military aggression of Armenia, over 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed, 4,866 are reported missing and almost 100,000 were injured, and 50,000 were disabled.
The UN Security Council has passed four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been enforced to this day.
During the meeting, which was mostly about cooperation on issues of refugees and IDPs, Hasanov noted that mutual relations between South Korea and Azerbaijan were built on a good basis.
He voiced confidence that relations in the political, cultural, and educational fields will develop in the future.
Hasanov said the country's economic development in recent years has enabled it to take responsibility for solving the problems of refugees and IDPs.
He said $5.4 billion had been allocated to address these issues over the past 20 years, noting that 82 modern villages had been built and the living conditions of more than 180,000 refugees and IDPs had improved during this time.
The Korean ambassador, in turn, said the South Korean embassy seeks to assist the IDPs and has already reached an agreement with Korean companies operating in Azerbaijan to carry out a number of projects.