Baku responds to provocative step by Armenia's permanent mission to UN
By Rashid Shirinov
As it is known, in May the permanent mission of Armenia to the UN circulated a document on behalf of the separatist regime established in the Armenia-occupied Azerbaijani lands. The Armenian mission to the UN has previously taken similar steps, says the statement by the Spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Hikmat Hajiyev on June 14.
He noted that by this step, Armenia’s permanent mission to the UN again chose the path of fraud and deception of the UN member countries.
“A document on behalf of the separatist regime was attached to the letter of Armenia’s permanent mission to the UN. Then the Armenian media presented this as allegedly distributing the document of the separatist regime to the UN. Actually that is a lie and nonsense,” Hajiyev stressed.
In this regard, the permanent mission of Azerbaijan to the UN sent a letter to the UN Secretariat on June 7. On the same day, the President of the UN Security Council circulated a letter to the members of the Security Council, and then it was published as an official document.
The letter notes that the Nagorno-Karabakh region is an integral part of Azerbaijan, stresses the inadmissibility of the seizure of territory by force and demands the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the occupation forces from the occupied territories.
The letter states that Armenia constantly evades responsibility and ignores the position of the international community. The documents also recalls the legal decision taken by the European Court of Human Rights in the case “Chiragov and others v. Armenia.” in 2015.
It was stressed once again that Armenia will never be able to achieve its goal by its policy of seizure and annexation, and that Armenia has no other choice but to withdraw its troops from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
The letter also notes that Yerevan must stop trying to mislead its people and the international community and must fulfill its obligations in order to resolve the conflict. It was stressed that only in this case the long-awaited peace and stability will be established in the region.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region 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. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.
Until now, Armenia controls fifth part of Azerbaijan’s territory and rejects implementing four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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