Baku slams Yerevan for provocative move
By Sara Rajabova
Baku has called provocative the opening of a kindergarten in Azerbaijan's occupied Zangilan region on the eve of anniversary day of its invasion.
Hikmet Hajiyev, Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry spokesman said the opening of the kindergarten in Zangilan region is provocative particularly on the eve of the anniversary of its occupation by Armenia and against the background of the recent meeting of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Paris.
Hajiyev made the remarks on October 29 in reaction to Armenian media reports about the opening of a kindergarten in the region.
"The Armenians never lived on the territory of Zangilan occupied by Armenian armed forces on October 29, 1993," he said, noting that these steps confirm the policy of annexation of the occupied territories by Armenia. "Such activities on the occupied territories contradict the Geneva Convention of 1949 and other protocols."
Azerbaijan's Zangilan region has a 157 mile border with Armenia. This has had a significant impact on the gradual increase of tensions in the region since 1988 when Armenia adopted its hostile policy towards Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region.
During the Karabakh war, Zangilan region lost 188 of its residents. 44 people are still missing since the bitter conflict with Armenia.
After Zangilan's occupation, more than 35,000 local residents had to be settled in 52 settlements across the country.
Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts from Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly 1 million were displaced as a result of the war.
Large-scale hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire in 1994 but Armenia continued the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal.
Peace talks mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. have produced no results so far.