Cavusoglu criticizes Armenia over its aggressive policy
By Gunay Hasanova
Who are the invaders of 20 percent of Azerbaijani territories?
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu addressed this rhetorical question with a very clear answer as a response to Armenian MP's groundless accusations against Turkey at the 62nd session of NATO Parliamentary Assembly.
“When we listen to you, it seems that you are angels,” said Cavusoglu. “I want to ask you a question: aren’t you, according to the UN resolutions, the invaders of 20 percent of the territory of Azerbaijan?"
Cavusoglu drew the participants' attention to Turkey's role in establishing peace and stability in the world, preventing conflicts, the fight against terrorism and temporarily settlement of refugees and displaced persons. Bringing grounded facts and arguments, he called on Armenians not to tell a lie and distort the historical truths.
In response to Armenian parliamentary delegate's provocative and false accusation of Turkey of "funding terror", Mevlut Cavusoglu highlighted the realities of Armenia's aggressive policy against Azerbaijan, the Khojaly genocide, and terrorist acts committed by Armenian terrorist organizations against the Turkish diplomats.
Cavusoglu said Turkey and Azerbaijan are one nation, two states: “Did I occupy Azerbaijan’s lands? Did I occupy Karabakh? You occupied, why don’t you leave [occupied territory]? We gave some advice, made offers to you. We said we’ll open borders if you leave Karabakh. You said why do we put Azerbaijan as a condition? We answered Azerbaijan is our fraternal country and its problem is our problem”.
In addition, the minister emphasized that Turkey will neither establish any relations nor open the borders with the aggressor country unless the Armenian troops withdraw from the occupied Azerbaijani territories.
Meanwhile, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek also confirmed during the session that if the occupation ceases, Turkey’s doubts over support for Armenia and the opening of the checkpoint will be removed both.
Moreover, within the framework of the 62nd session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Istanbul Committee of defense and security of organization adopted a resolution supporting the territorial integrity of sovereign states despite the fact that Armenian delegation opposed to the adoption of the resolution.
Azerbaijan was represented at the event by a delegation led by first Deputy Chairman of the Parliament, head of the Azerbaijani delegation to NATO PA Ziyafat Asgarov.
The delegation included chairman of the parliamentary Committee on public unions and religious organizations Siyavush Novruzov, MPs Gudrat Hasanguliyev, Malahat Ibrahimgizi and Kamran Bayramov.
Siyavush Novruzov attended the meeting of the political committee with the participation of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
In turn, Siyavush Novruzov expressed his opinions on the issue, as well as provided an insight into a large number of terrorist acts which Armenian terror organization ASALA committed in Azerbaijan and Turkey, and the aggressor country Armenia's groundless territorial claims against Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, 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.
While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in the resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign State with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of the due attention of the international community for years.
By ignoring four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, as well as appropriate documents adopted by The European Parliament, the Council of Europe, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the Non-Aligned Movement, Armenia intends to preserve the status quo in the region and freezes the needed settlement of the conflict.
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Gunay Hasanova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @gunhasanova
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