Azerbaijan guided by UN Charter when pursuing policy of Armenia's isolation
By Rashid Shirinov
Azerbaijan, pursuing a policy of isolation of Armenia, is guided by the UN Charter, Farhad Mammadov, Director of the Center for Strategic Studies under the President of Azerbaijan, told Trend on June 8.
He noted that the territories of Azerbaijan were occupied by Armenia, as a result of which ethnic cleansing was carried out on these lands.
“After that, Azerbaijan applied the articles No. 41 and 42 of the UN Charter, which say that if a state does not comply with the UN Security Council resolutions, sanctions may be applied against this state,” Mammadov said.
The Director of the Center mentioned that good-neighborly, equal and mutually beneficial cooperation with neighboring countries, in particular with Georgia, allows Azerbaijan to implement projects, the amount of which in monetary terms is hundreds of times more than the budget and tens of times more than the GDP of Armenia.
“Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has always stressed that if the Armenian authorities, regardless of who they are, think about the independence and economic development of their country, they must peacefully co-exist with their neighbors. This would bring more benefit to the population and strengthen the state independence of Armenia, as it is impossible to develop in isolation,” Mammadov stressed.
He added that it is enough to look at the map to understand that with the closed borders with Azerbaijan and Turkey, Armenia cannot develop and implement any economic initiatives.
“Armenia has borders with four countries and the longest borders are closed. The infrastructure that existed in Soviet times also passed through the territory of Azerbaijan. The only railway connecting Russia with Armenia and passing through the territory of Abkhazia in Georgia has been closed for 25 years and its opening is not expected in the near future,” Mammadov reminded.
Nevertheless, the trilateral format of Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey cooperation is not directed against anyone, but is formed and operates within the national interests of these three states.
Mammadov reminded that this format has its own agenda, and traditional meetings of heads of state, foreign ministers, relevant structures, defense ministers, and joint military exercises are held within it, as well as pipeline and infrastructure projects are implemented.
“The doors to participation in these projects are open for all parties – for Iran and for Russia. This provision was prescribed back in 2007, when the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project was founded. However, there is a reservation that the territorial integrity of these countries must be respected. It was a message for Armenia,” the Director of the Center said.
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
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