Azerbaijan appreciates Germany's non-granting of visas to Armenian separatists
By Rashid Shirinov
Azerbaijan highly appreciates the German government’s decision not to grant visas to representatives of the separatist regime established by Armenia in the occupied Azerbaijani lands, Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov said on January 23.
He made the remark during the meeting with Andreas Peschke, Director for Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia of the Federal Foreign Office of Germany.
Khalafov noted that Azerbaijan sees Germany’s visa non-granting as the country’s support for a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and recognition of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.
Peshke, in turn, said that Germany adheres to the unequivocal position on the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, and noted that his country supports the settlement of the conflict based on the principles of the Helsinki Final Act. He also added that during its OSCE chairmanship, Germany made efforts to achieve a breakthrough in the conflict resolution.
Along with Belarus, Italy, Sweden, Finland and Turkey, Germany is a permanent member of the OSCE Minsk Group, established to broker a peaceful settlement to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The organization is co-chaired by the U.S., Russia and France.
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 districts.