"Karabakh is Azerbaijan!" must be main unifying idea till Karabakh conflict settlement [UPDATE]

10 October 2019 18:27 (UTC+04:00)

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The idea "Karabakh is Azerbaijan!" must be the main unifying idea in the Azerbaijani society till the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is resolved, Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister, Deputy Chairman and Executive Secretary of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party Ali Ahmadov said.

Ahmadov made the remarks in Baku during the round table discussions entitled "Karabakh is Azerbaijan!" "Conflict Settlement Prospects", Trend reports on October 10.

“Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s statement “Karabakh is Azerbaijan, and exclamation mark” at the Valdai International Discussion Club has risen to the level of formation of a national idea in the country,” the deputy prime minister added.

Ahmadov stressed that having voiced this appeal in Russia’s Sochi city, the president sent very important messages to many recipients.

“The first recipient is the Armenian society and leadership, the second recipient is the international organizations which assumed the mediation mission to resolve the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” the deputy prime minister said. “The third recipient of this message is the Azerbaijani society.”

“The essence of the message conveyed to the Azerbaijani society is to enhance the national spirit, and at the same time it is aimed at forming an idea that ensures the unity of the whole society,” the deputy prime minister said.

Ahmadov emphasized that the parties involved in the ongoing negotiation process to resolve the conflict are known.

“One of them is Armenia,” he said. “Armenia’s constructive position is one of the important conditions for the normal conduct of the negotiation process. If Armenia continues to demonstrate a destructive position, then international organizations and mediators must thoroughly change their positions in the negotiation process.”

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding regions.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.