Baku rejects Yerevan’s anti-Azerbaijani claim as unfounded
By Vugar Khalilov
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Leyla Abdullayeva has dismissed Armenia's allegations that Azerbaijan is obstructing international organizations' activities in Karabakh as unfounded.
In a statement published on the ministry’s website on February 2, Abdullayeva said: “We bring to the attention of Armenian Foreign Minister [Ararat Mirzoyan] that the activity of any international organization in the sovereign lands of our country is a bilateral issue between Azerbaijan and the related international organization. The comment of the representative of the third side on this issue is inappropriate and baseless.”
She stressed that Azerbaijan has developed excellent and mutually beneficial relationships with international organizations and its strong engagement in multilateral platforms, as well as its successful chairmanship experience in a number of organizations, are well-known.
Regarding the activities of international organizations in Azerbaijan, Abdullayeva reminded that, in accordance with the UN General Assembly resolution on humanitarian aid coordination dated December 19, 1991, such activities must be carried out in a manner that respects the host country's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
“The activities of international organizations in the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan are carried out in accordance with this principle,” she underlined.
Abdullayeva said that the Armenian foreign minister should instead focus on issues relating to the fulfillment of his country's obligations and regional peacebuilding.
The trilateral ceasefire deal signed by the Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian leaders on November 10, 2020, ended the three-decade conflict over Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region which along with the seven adjacent regions came under the occupation of Armenian armed forces in the war in the early 1990s.
On January 11, 2021, the Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian leaders signed the second statement since the end of the 44-day war. The newly-signed statement was set to implement clause 9 of the November 2020 statement related to the unblocking of all economic and transport communications in the region.
On November 26, 2021, the Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian leaders signed a statement and agreed on a number of issues, including the demarcation and delimitation of the Azerbaijani-Armenian border by late 2021, some points related to humanitarian issues and the issue of unblocking of transport corridors which applies to the railway and to automobile communications.
On December 14, 2021, during the Brussels meeting, organized between Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders at the initiative of European Council President Charles Michel, the sides reaffirmed their commitment to the conditions agreed in the Sochi meeting.
Both sides agreed to establish a temporary working group on the delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
The issue of demining the liberated territories of Azerbaijan was also brought up on the agenda, and the European Union's readiness to provide technical assistance to Azerbaijan in this regard was underlined at the meeting.
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