Karabakh’s Azerbaijani community: Armenia ignores our existence
By Rasana Gasimova
Armenia wants to deny the existence of the Nagorno-Karabakh’s Azerbaijani community and this denial is rooted in the policy of discrimination pursued by Yerevan, Head of the Azerbaijani community of the Nagorno-Karabakh region Tural Ganjaliyev has said.
“The discrimination policy of Armenia, which occupied the Azerbaijani lands, committed the Khojaly genocide, destroys the cultural, religious, historical monuments belonging to the Azerbaijani people in the occupied territories, demonstrates its long-term ideology,” Ganjaliyev said.
Ganjaliyev said that Armenians are worried that Karabakh’s Azerbaijani community are increasingly part of the discourse on the conflict resolution, saying that Armenians prefer ignoring the existence of Azerbaijanis in Nagorno-Karabakh.
He stressed that in 2019, the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group made two visits to occupied Nagorno-Karabakh and met with the Azerbaijani communities of Nagorno-Karabakh in Baku. The meeting was followed by a statement, in which the co-chairs once again stressed that the Azerbaijani community is as an interested party to the conflict.
Ganjaliyev also reminded that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s in his recent statement voiced support for the inter-community dialogue.
“After these processes, it is obvious that Armenia is unable to digest the position of the Azerbaijani community of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. Armenia denies the existence of the Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh,” Ganjaliyev noted.
Ganjaliyev then cited documents testifying to the existence of Azerbaijani community in Nagorno-Karabakh region.
“Both the Armenian and Azerbaijani communities of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan are implied in the document of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Helsinki on March 24, 1992, as representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh. They were indicated as the interested parties."
He also noted that after the Supreme Council of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) made the decision on the accession of Nagorno-Karabakh region to the Armenian SSR on December 1, 1989, the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) stressed the inconsistency of the "resolutions" of the Armenian SSR with the Constitution of the USSR on January 10, 1990 and put an end to Armenia’s groundless territorial claims regarding Nagorno-Karabakh region.
“Thirdly, the UN and other international organizations, and the international community recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as an integral part of Azerbaijan. I recommend the Armenian side to consider the statements and relevant documents of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs,” he said.
Ganjaliyev also stressed that if the Armenian authorities put an end to the aggressive policy against Azerbaijan, stop denying the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis from Nagorno-Karabakh region and other occupied Azerbaijani territories, do not impede the peaceful coexistence of the two communities in the conditions of equal rights within the internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan, then the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be resolved.
Karabakh’s Azerbaijani community which was subjected to ethnic cleansing and expulsion from their lands, has the legal right to participate in determining the future legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Nagorno-Karabakh is Azerbaijan’s breakaway region which along with seven surrounding regions came under occupation of Armenian forces in a war in the early 1990s. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. So far, Armenia has failed to implement four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions.
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