Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

Providing financial support to the regime created in Azerbaijan’s occupied territories delays the resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said Ambassador Kamil Khasiyev, head of department at Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry.

He made the remarks at the second session of the 15th meeting of the EU-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Cooperation Committee on May 8 in Baku.

Khasiyev noted that financial resources have been illegally invested in Azerbaijan’s occupied territories and continue to be invested.

He further emphasized that that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is one of the main factors of instability in the region.

“Such conflicts lead to instability in the regions where they occur. UN resolutions supporting the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan were adopted on this conflict. They repeatedly note that Nagorno-Karabakh is an integral part of Azerbaijan,” Khasiyev said.

However, he added, Armenia continues its aggressive policy, violating the norms of international law.

“Azerbaijan expects the EU and its member states, in accordance with international obligations, to start applying political and economic measures that are implemented in such cases,” Khasiyev noted.

He added that foreigners are engaged in illegal economic activity in the occupied Azerbaijani territories.

“It is necessary to implement certain measures so that individuals and legal entities from the EU member states do not engage in economic activity in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan,” Khasiyev emphasized.

Any business, economic, research or other kind of activity in Nagorno-Karabakh and other Azerbaijani regions occupied by Armenia without the consent of Azerbaijan are illegal and the country takes necessary measures against those who are engaged in such activity. Moreover, unauthorized visits to the occupied Azerbaijani territories are also considered illegal and individuals who pay such visits are included in the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s list of undesirable persons.

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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