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Azerbaijani MFA: Armenian FM needs to be enlightened about Helsinki Act

22 February 2018 17:47 (UTC+04:00)
Azerbaijani MFA: Armenian FM needs to be enlightened about Helsinki Act

By Rashid Shirinov

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian needs to be enlightened about the basic principles of international law and the Helsinki Final Act, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s Spokesman Hikmat Hajiyev said on February 22.

He was commenting on Nalbandian’s recent statement at the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament.

The spokesman noted that when addressing the Committee, Nalbandian distorted the facts of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, norms and principles of international law, and put forward absurd allegations against Azerbaijan.

Hajiiyev reminded that the respect to the territorial integrity, sovereignty and inviolability of internationally recognized borders of countries constitute the basis of contemporary international relations. “Rejection of these principles is the way towards chaos and the return to the situation of 1930s-1940s,” he noted.

“The unlawfulness within the Soviet legal system of attempted unilateral secession of Nagorno-Karabakh by Armenian separatists without Azerbaijan’s consent was confirmed at the highest constitutional level,” the spokesman said. “The definition of the territory of Azerbaijan as it proceeded to independence and in the light of the applicable law clearly included Nagorno-Karabakh.”

Hajiyev said that Armenia’s territorial claims against Azerbaijan are accompanied with the violence, terror and ethnic cleansing of indigenous Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh and transformed into the large-scale war unleashed by Armenia against Azerbaijan after dissolution of USSR.

“As a result, Armenia occupied 20 percent territories of Azerbaijan by use of force and conduced complete ethnic cleansing of Azerbaijani population in the seized lands and in the territory of Armenia,” he said. “In order to disguise its direct responsibility for military aggression against Azerbaijan, Armenia distorts and misinterprets the principle of the people’s right to self-determination.”

The spokesman added that in reality, such a view has nothing in common with the principle of self-determination set forth in the Charter of the United Nations, the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Final Act) of 1975 and other international documents.

“The fact that Nagorno-Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan was reaffirmed by the UN Security Council in its relevant resolutions on the conflict and from that time onward has been repeatedly stated at the international level,” Hajiyev said.

He noted that to justify Armenia’s illegal territorial claims against Azerbaijan and the use of military force, the Armenian foreign minister misinterprets the documents of international organizations, including EU institutions.

The spokesman also commented on Nalbandian’s statement about intensification of talks and reduction of tension. “It is very well known that the main reason of tension is the continuation of occupation and the presence of armed forces of Armenia in the occupied lands of Azerbaijan. In order to reduce the tension and eliminate the facts of military risks Armenia must withdraw its forces from occupied lands of Azerbaijan,” Hajiyev said.

The spokesman noted that the resolution of the conflict is possible only on the basis of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan within its internationally recognized borders.

“The sooner Armenia realizes this reality, the sooner sustainable peace and security will be restored in the region,” he concluded.

Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan by laying territorial claims on the country. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

To this day, Armenia has not implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions.

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

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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