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FM spokesman: Kyrgyzstan’s position at ECO summit incomprehensible

3 March 2017 16:33 (UTC+04:00)
FM spokesman: Kyrgyzstan’s position at ECO summit incomprehensible

By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry has criticized Kyrgyzstan for the country’s refraining from acceding the political clauses reflected in the Islamabad Declaration of the 13th ECO Summit.

The position of Kyrgyzstan, which didn’t accede to the political clauses in the declaration adopted at the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Summit in Islamabad, is absolutely incomprehensible, Ministry’s spokesman Hikmat Hajiyev told Trend.

In the declaration adopted on the results of the 13th ECO Summit Meeting on March 1, the member states expressed concern about “the existing unresolved conflicts in the ECO region, including Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, which hinder the economic growth and realization of the full economic potential of the region and impede the development of economic cooperation on regional as well as broader level”.

The ECO member states also stressed “the importance of making increased efforts for the earliest resolution of these conflicts based on the norms and principles of international law, in particular the principles of respect to sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

Hajiyev said that generally the links between economic development, regional cooperation, peace and security is a principle accepted by the entire international community, and this is the basis of the UN concept of sustainable development.

“Therefore, Kyrgyzstan’s position is absolutely incomprehensible,” Hajiyev said, adding such a position raises a serious question – which side is Kyrgyzstan on?

The ECO is an alliance of ten countries – Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. The purpose of the structure is to discuss ways to improve development and promote trade and investment opportunities in the region.

Azerbaijan and Armenia for over two decades have been locked in conflict, which emerged over Armenian territorial claims to Azerbaijan. Since the 1990s war, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.

The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal from the occupied lands of Azerbaijan, but they have not been enforced to this day.

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