Baku ready to host missions of int'l organizations in Azerbaijan
By Vafa Ismayilova
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Leyla Abdullayeva has said that Azerbaijan is ready to host missions of international organizations on its territory, the Foreign Ministry reported on July 6.
She made the remarks to comment on developments with regard to an agreement reached on the implementation of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) mission on Azerbaijan's liberated territories.
"As a result of discussions between the Azerbaijani side and the UNHCR, an agreement was reached on dispatch of the UNHCR mission to the conflict-affected areas of our country. In general, in connection with the implementation of humanitarian missions, we would like to emphasize that Azerbaijan, guided by the principles of international law, in particular the principle of state sovereignty, is ready to accept international missions on its territory," the report added.
She said that Baku expects that the organization to provide specific information on the dispatch of the UNHCR mission to the liberated territories.
"We would like to emphasize once again that Azerbaijan is ready to accept the UNHCR mission on the basis of the principles of international law," she said.
In late June, Azerbaijan made a similar statement, expressing readiness to accept UNESCO and UNHCR missions.
The country earlier invited the UNESCO mission to visit war-affected territories in line with the 1954 Hague Convention "For the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict".
In its official statement in early May, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said that hundreds of cultural institutions, 927 libraries with a book fund of 4.6 million, 22 museums and museum branches with more than 100,000 exhibits, 4 art galleries, 8 culture, and recreation parks, as well as one of the oldest settlements in the world in Fuzuli district - Azykh Cave, Shusha State Historical and Architectural Reserve have become victims of Armenian vandalism.
The scale of destruction in Azerbaijan’s formerly occupied territories suggests deep hatred and animosity against Azerbaijanis, with many experts describing these mass destructions as genocide.
Azerbaijan and Armenia resumed the second war after that latter started firing at Azerbaijani civilians and military positions starting September 27, 2020. The war ended on November 10 with the signing of a trilateral peace deal by the Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian leaders.
The peace agreement stipulated the return of Azerbaijan's Armenian-occupied Kalbajar, Aghdam and Lachin regions. Before the signing of the deal, the Azerbaijani army had liberated around 300 villages, settlements, city centres, and historic Shusha city. The Azerbaijani army declared a victory against the Armenian troops. The signed agreement obliged Armenia to withdraw its troops from the Azerbaijani lands that it has occupied since the early 1990s.
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