Azernews.Az

Thursday March 28 2024

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict continues to threat regional security, stability

21 September 2017 17:59 (UTC+04:00)
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict continues to threat regional security, stability

By Rashid Shirinov

By Rashid Shirinov

Since the protracted Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan still waits for its resolution, the regional security and stability continue to suffer from its destructive effect.

The war that flared up in 1988 due to Armenia’s territorial claims against Azerbaijan took thousands of lives and was stopped in 1994 with a fragile ceasefire. To that moment, Armenia occupied 20 percent of internationally recognized lands of Azerbaijan, and more than a million of Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced persons because of the Armenian aggression.

Over the past years, the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group have been trying to help Azerbaijan and Armenia resolve the conflict, but their efforts haven’t bear fruit as Armenia refuses to withdraw its armed forces from Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions, even though the UN Security Council adopted four resolutions in this regard.

Baku has repeatedly called for implementation of the UNSC resolutions and just resolution of the conflict, but the conflict failed to achieve a due attention of the world community.

Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, from the UN platform, has once again condemned the aggressive policy of Yerevan and ignorance of the international bodies.

“Maintaining security and stability is a crucial component in building successful society and regional cooperation,” he said at the Extraordinary Session of Council of Ministers of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) member-states on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly Session in New York.

The minister voiced regret that stability and security in the region became even more fragile, new conflict hotbeds emerged and prospects of the region’s development were seriously compromised.

“Armenia continues its occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territories, thus undermining the regional security and stability, as well as impedes full-fledged regional cooperation,” Mammadyarov said.

Armenia in the first place hurts itself by continuing its aggressive policy against Azerbaijan. Armenia even more plunges itself into an economic blockade and political isolation, deprives itself of opportunity to join regional projects that could help the country get out of severe economic crisis.

The foreign minister noted that Armenia went even further in its aggression policy now trying to associate other countries with the illegal occupation through attracting businesses, trade and investments in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

“It is very important for our cooperation that all countries must be aware of such intentions of Armenia and reject any type of social, economic and cultural involvement in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan,” Mammadyarov said.

The minister noted that withdrawal of Armenian military forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and ensuring the return of the refugees and internally displaced people to their houses not only will contribute to peace and security in the South Caucasus but also enhance full-fledged intra-regional cooperation.

Azerbaijan always takes necessary measures against those, who are engaged in illegal business or economic activity in the territories occupied by Armenia. Moreover, unauthorized visits to Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied regions of Azerbaijan are considered illegal and individuals who pay such visits are included in the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s “black list”.

In New York, Mammadyarov also addressed the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Contact Group meeting on the Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan. During its summit in Istanbul in April last year, OIC made a decision to establish a contact group for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which included the foreign ministers of the OIC member-states. The decision was made at Turkey’s initiative.

Mammadyarov urged the OIC member countries to make every effort to support the measures to end Armenia’s aggression against Azerbaijan, avoid illegal economic and other activities in the occupied Azerbaijani territories, and limit all forms of cooperation with Armenia.

He noted that for the period after the first meeting of the OIC Contact Group, the situation on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict’s settlement process didn’t change. On the contrary, clashes on the frontline, as well as cases of deliberate killing of Azerbaijani civilians residing along the contact line between the Armenian and Azerbaijani troops increased.

The Armenian militaries using heavy machine guns and mortars deliberately aim at Azerbaijan settlements near the frontline in order to hurt civilians living there, and sometimes such provocations result in murder of Azerbaijani civilians. The last such tragic incident took place in July this year when the Armenian armed forces fired the Alkhanli village of Azerbaijan’s Fuzuli region with heavy artillery. As a result, the aggressors killed 51-year-old Sahiba Allahverdiyeva and her toddler granddaughter Zahra Guliyeva.

Mammadyarov urged the OIC countries to refrain from Armenia’s armament in order to prevent the escalation of the conflict, and ban the transit of weapons and military equipment through their territories for this purpose.

“Azerbaijan relies on the consistent solidarity of the Islamic world in resolute condemnation of the use of force against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country and the occupation of its territories,” Mammadyarov added.

Today Armenia controls fifth part of Azerbaijan's territory and rejects implementing four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from there. In contrast, Azerbaijan has long ago expressed its consent to come to the negotiating table with Yerevan to finally resolve the conflict by peaceful means, but the occupier country continues to play for time and avoids substantive negotiations in order to preserve the inadmissible status quo in Nagorno-Karabakh.

---

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

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

Loading...
Latest See more