Deputy FM: Border delimitation with Armenia envisages return of Azerbaijan’s exclave villages
Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov has stated that border delimitation with Armenia envisages the return of Azerbaijani exclave villages as well, Trend has reported.
Khalaf Khalafov underlined that the villages of Azerbaijan’s Gazakh region and Nakhchivan’s Karki should be resolved within the delimitation process, the report added.
Armenia will never be able to claim that these villages are not part of Azerbaijan, the deputy minister stressed.
"These lands are part of Azerbaijan. The issue of the return of these territories to Azerbaijan will be considered within the framework of the delimitation process. The return of these territories under the control of Azerbaijan will be discussed and a solution will be found," Khalafov added.
Furthermore, he stated that the Azerbaijani-Armenia peace talks should be held in line with the five basic principles put forward by Baku.
Khalafov said that following the Brussels meeting and the events that preceded it, Armenia agreed to a peace treaty, and the start of the delimitation of the state borders with Azerbaijan, and efforts are being made in this direction.
“Armenia hasn’t yet rejected the five-point proposal," he underlined.
Since the early 1990s, Armenia has kept under occupation seven villages of Azerbaijan’s Gazakh region, as well as Nakhchivan’s Karki village.
Armenia's unfounded territorial claims and aggression against Azerbaijan were not limited to Karabakh but also covered other regions. Villages in the Gazakh region, 100 km off Nagorno-Karabakh, often come under armed attacks from Armenian invaders since the 1990s.
The Gazakh region has a 168-kilometer border with Armenia. Long before the start of the First Karabakh war (1988-1994), Armenian armed forces often opened fire on residents living in the Gazakh region's border villages, burning houses, and destroying or stealing animals.
The villages occupied by Armenians are Gazakh’s Sofulu, Barkhudarli, Baghanis Ayrim, Gizil Hajili, Yukhari Askipara, Ashagi Askipara, and Kheyrimli villages, and Karki village of Nakhchivan’s Sadarak region.
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