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Armenia impudently violates all int’l norms, principles

11 September 2015 10:50 (UTC+04:00)
Armenia impudently violates all int’l norms, principles

By Sara Rajabova

All international norms and principles, including basic conventional human rights were impudently violated by Armenia.

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov made the remark at a meeting of the Council of Foreign Affairs Ministers of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States, held in Kazakh capital Astana on September 10, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry reported.

"Recent developments all over the world once again confirmed that the main pillars to maintain peace and stability are the respect by the states for each other’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of internationally recognized borders, as well as refraining from policy of aggression. Nevertheless, Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity have been violated for more than 20 years as result of Armenian occupation,” Mammadyarov said.

He reminded that 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s land is still under occupation, noting that ethnic cleansing policy against Azerbaijan’s indigenous population executed by Armenia and almost one million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced.

“Still now, Armenia flagrantly ignores four UN Security Council resolutions adopted in 1993 on immediate, unconditional and complete withdrawal of Armenian occupying forces from Azerbaijan’s lands,” Mammadyarov said.

For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. The precarious cease-fire between Azerbaijan and Armenia was reached after a lengthy war that displaced over a million Azerbaijanis and has been in place between the two South Caucasus countries since 1994.

Mammadyarov further noted that Azerbaijan makes efforts to ensure stability in the region and beyond it.

"We strongly believe that peace and stability are much more needed to have sustainable development and prosperity. Azerbaijan makes its contributions to the international cooperation in the field of regional security and fight against terrorism. We make every effort to maintain peace, stability and well being not only in our region, but also beyond it," the minister said.

He added that two member states of organization of the Turkic Speaking States - Azerbaijan and Turkey have strengthened military ties in the last years; they have engaged in more frequent and larger military exercises in both countries. “Such an increasing military ties between Azerbaijan and Turkey will improve combat readiness and ability, as well as organization of interaction giving both countries more flexibility in the strategic, but sensitive Caucasus region."

During the meeting, the foreign ministers discussed a range of issues of cooperation among member states, and hailed the role of the Council of FMs in promoting cooperation among Turkic speaking states.

Economic cooperation in focus

Highlighting the priorities of the Turkic Council, Mammadyarov said one of the main priorities of the organization is to develop and strengthen multilateral cooperation among the member states through concrete projects in various fields, like security, economy, energy, transport, culture, tourism, education, science and technology.

Mammadyarov touched upon economic cooperation within the Turkic Council, saying "it is important to highlight that geographic location of member states provides an ample opportunity to benefit from our countries’ competitive transit potential."

"Therefore, I believe that developing transport infrastructure, and most importantly, interconnectivity and infrastructure in our geography should remain one of key areas of cooperation. An ever increasing demand for passenger and cargo transportation across Eurasia makes it imperative to strengthen the East-West transport corridor (specifically its Trans-Caspian component) that would undoubtedly help revive the Historic Silk Road so much cherished by our ancestors," the minister said.

He also noted the importance of developing logistic capabilities of ports and promoting policies on simplifying the transit system and increasing the quality of multimodal cargo transportation.

“The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway due to be commissioned next year will pave the way for competitive, reliable and time-friendly shipments of passengers and cargo from China to Europe and vice versa and would help unlock the huge transit potential of our countries and generate a stable source of income for our economies. To this end, we strongly support the regular meetings of relevant ministries and entities in the framework of the Turkic Council and welcome proposals that would strengthen the capability of the afore-mentioned transport corridor,” Mammadyarov said.

He also added that Azerbaijan has always offered its infrastructure for the transit of the Caspian energy resources to Western markets.

“Today, Azerbaijan also plays a significant role as an initiator and enabler of mega energy projects of trans-regional importance, such the Southern Gas Corridor. The expansion of the South Caucasus Pipeline and construction of TANAP and TAP pipelines, main components of the Southern Gas Corridor, is well under way,” Mammadyarov said, noting that it will connect the giant Shah Deniz gas field in Azerbaijan through Georgia and Turkey to Europe.

The minister further added that Azerbaijan also support initiatives on cooperation in ICT, renewable energy, small and medium size entrepreneurship development and private sector engagement among the member states. “I would like to emphasize the importance of our partnership in tourism and exploring new investment opportunities in this sector.”

Humanitarian collaboration

Mammadyarov said cooperation in the humanitarian field is one of the main areas of partnership between member states.

“We do appreciate the work done by TURKSOY which have played a significant role in promoting culture of Turkic nations since its inception. I think it’s very important for Turkic Academy and Turkic Cultural Heritage Fund, which have been founded in 2012, to complete relevant procedures and to act as international organizations as soon as possible. Regular meetings of ministers and working groups in the field of education will allow us to implement joint projects in this direction. Projects like preparation of joint book on Turkic history, interuniversity association, student-teacher exchange programs, will give an impetus to the development of our cooperation in this field. Yet another promising dimension of our engagement within the Turkic Council could be youth and sports," the minister said.

He further added that taking into account the expansion of the global information space with each passing day and the use of it as a powerful outreach activity mechanism, holding this year’s Summit under the slogan “cooperation in the fields of media and information” meets requirements of today. “We do appreciate cooperation in this field and support recently adopted resolutions during the first meeting of the heads of media and information structures of the member states in Astana."

Mammadyarov also said it is important to continue cooperation towards coordination and mutual support for the candidacies of the member states and common position within international organizations, especially United Nations.

"We have to strengthen our efforts in the direction of gaining observer status for Turkic Council to UN and OIC. On the other hand, the Council’s cooperation with OIC, OSCE, UN agencies - World Tourism Organization and UN Development Programme is laudable," the minister added.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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