Armenia's artificial preservation of status quo creates serious tension
By Rashid Shirinov
Armenia’s attempts to artificially maintain the status quo, based on the occupation of Azerbaijani territories, create serious tension, and the responsibility for this lies entirely with Armenia, Spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Hikmat Hajiyev said on July 6.
He made the remarks in connection with the 25th anniversary of the occupation of Agdere and nearby villages, which are part of the Tartar region of Azerbaijan.
“Before the military aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan, Agdere was the administrative center of one of the five regions of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) of Azerbaijan SSR,” Hajiyev noted.
He added that there are rich deposits of coal, limestone, copper, gold, lead and zinc in this territory, as well as the Sarsang hydro power station on Tartar river. As many as 44 percent of the area was covered with forests of rare and valuable tree species.
“As a result of the occupation, accompanied by the complete ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Azerbaijani population of Agdere, the cultural heritage belonging to the Azerbaijani people was plundered, and the infrastructure was destroyed,” Hajiyev stressed.
He added that with the deliberate purpose of Armenization, during the restoration of the Gandzasar complex, the Albanian Christian heritage belonging to the 13th century, its style was changed, and now the occupiers represent it as Armenian monument.
“Armenia and the fictional regime established in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan have been carrying out illegal acts of plundering the wealth of Agdere for the past 25 years. Natural mineral resources of the territory are illegally and ruthlessly plundered,” the spokesman stressed.
He added that as enshrined in the four UN Security Council resolutions, the international community condemns the occupation of Azerbaijani territories and demands the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian occupying forces from the Azerbaijani territories.
“Only urgent steps in this direction can be the basis for a political solution to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict and the return of Azerbaijani internally displaced persons to their homes, including to Agdere and nearby villages,” Hajiyev noted.
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.
---
Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz