Armenia must withdraw from occupied lands for Nagorno-Karabakh conflict's resolution
By Sara Rajabova
The Armenian armed forces must withdraw from the occupied Azerbaijani territories for the resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov made this remark in his lecture for the participants of the 9th Baku summer school on energy, held at ADA University on July 16, the Azerbaijani foreign ministry reported.
Mammadyarov discussed the achievements of Azerbaijan in political, social, and other areas over the past decade and on the foreign policy priorities and relations of Azerbaijan on a bilateral and multilateral basis with the international community.
He also talked about the Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan and occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory, as well as the talks held under the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group for resolution of the conflict.
Mammadyarov stressed that the presence of Armenian armed forces in the occupied Azerbaijani territories is a major obstacle in the process of settlement of the conflict.
He added that the well-known UN Security Council resolutions demand the immediate, complete, and unconditional withdrawal of aggressive forces from Azerbaijani territories.
Mammadyarov noted that this position is supported by the OSCE, OIC, Council of Europe, the Non-Aligned Movement and other international organizations, as well as the European Court of Human Rights, which in its decision on the case of "Chiragov and others v. Armenia," recognized Armenia as an aggressor state.
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.
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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on
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