Azernews.Az

By Trend

The territories of Azerbaijan must be liberated from occupation in order to restore peace in the region, Deputy Director of the Human Rights Commission of the East Azerbaijan Bar Association, Sina Yousefi told Trend.

According to Yousefi, the only way for this is to continue the fighting, and the only way to end the occupation is the military way.

He added that Armenia occupied the territories of Azerbaijan and does not intend to leave these territories, and is even claiming these lands belong to it.

"Therefore, the only way out is to use military means to liberate the occupied territories," he said.

"For years, Azerbaijan has been told that it should stick to peaceful solution to the conflict, however the peaceful solution never happened," he said.

The Iranian lawyer said it seems that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs have not been able to say anything yet to the Armenian side about the withdrawal of its military troops from Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts of Azerbaijan.

Yousefi pointed out that Azerbaijan has given enough time to the Minsk Group and more broadly, to the UN, to resolve the conflict peacefully, through discussions.

Yousefi noted that the Azerbaijanis in Iran are watching the fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh with attention and concern.

"With organizing marches in Tabriz, Urmia, Ardabil, Zanjan, Salmas, Khoy, and even Tehran, the Azerbaijanis in Iran declare that they demand the liberation of Nagorno-Karabakh and they oppose any support for Armenia. The discussions on peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan can be held only after the liberation of the territories," he said.

Armenian Armed Forces launched a large-scale military attack on positions of Azerbaijani army on the front line, using large-caliber weapons, mortars and artillery on Sept. 27.

Azerbaijan responded with a counter-offensive along the entire front. As a result of retaliation, Azerbaijani troops liberated a number of territories previously occupied by Armenia, as well as take important, strategic heights under control.

The fighting continued into October 2020, in the early days of which Armenia launched missile attacks on Azerbaijani cities of Ganja, Mingachevir, Khizi as well as Absheron district.

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 districts.

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

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