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Speaker: Armenia’s destructive position hampers negotiations on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

16 September 2016 18:07 (UTC+04:00)
Speaker: Armenia’s destructive position hampers negotiations on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

By Rashid Shirinov

International efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has still not yielded any results because of the destructive position of Armenia, said the Chairman of Milli Mejlis (Azerbaijani Parliament) Ogtay Asadov on September 16.

He made the remark at the meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) countries-members’ presidents of parliaments in Strasburg.

Asadov said that attempts to give religious color to the hostile policy conducted by Armenia against Azerbaijan are unfounded.

For nearly 25 years, 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory – Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts – are being occupied and they suffered from ethnic cleansing. More than a million civilians were expelled from their homes in Armenia and the occupied lands of Azerbaijan.

Speaker of Azerbaijan Parliament said that the unresolved conflict poses a threat to peace and stability not only in the South Caucasus region, but in the whole world, and the April events occurred on the front line once again prove it.

Ogtay Asadov informed the meeting participants that another armed provocation of the Armenian Armed Forces and their intensive shelling of the settlements along the front line forced the Azerbaijani Armed Forces to retaliate for the security of civilians.

He stressed that the large-scale military actions led to the deaths of many people and large scale destruction.

Asadov also said that today everyone should understand how dangerous it is to close the eyes to ethnic separatism and militant nationalism, as well as seizure of foreign lands.

“I am sure that in this matter, the international community will finally have their say, and the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be resolved on the basis of universally recognized norms and principles of international law in the framework of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan,” Asadov said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia still controls fifth part of Azerbaijan's territory and rejects implementing four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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