Baku calls for complete liberation of occupied territories
By Sara Rajabova
The return of seven occupied regions should be considered as only one stage of a complete restoration of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity.
"Azerbaijan's position is clear. It calls for a complete liberation of its occupied territories," Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy Chairman and Executive Secretary of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party, Ali Ahmadov said on July 9.
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 which led to a brutal war in the early 1990s.
Ahmadov quoted the Azerbaijani president as saying that Azerbaijan's territorial integrity would never be a subject of discussion, adding that dealing with the problem is possible only within the framework Azerbaijan's territorial integrity.
"I think that regardless of any kind of dealings with the problem, a full and final settlement of the conflict ensures the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. The return of seven occupied regions should be considered as only one of the stages of restoring territorial integrity of the country," Ahmadov said.
The precarious cease-fire between Azerbaijan and Armenia was made in 1994 after a lengthy war that displaced over one million Azerbaijanis.
The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions urging Armenia to withdraw immediately from the Azerbaijani regions, but they have not been enforced to this day.
Peace talks mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. have produced no results so far.