Azernews.Az

BAKU – The Azerbaijani president’s senior aide on Thursday called on the United Nations to condemn the use of the Armenia-occupied territories of Azerbaijan for drug trafficking and illegal arms sales.

Speaking at the presentation of a UN report on living standards in Baku, Presidential Administration chief Ramiz Mehdiyev reminded that Azerbaijan’s occupied land has turned into uncontrolled territory, which has resulted in widespread crimes there, such as growing and transit of narcotics. Moreover, illegal arms trade is being carried out in those territories, which poses a major threat to regional and international security.

Armenia and Azerbaijan waged a war in the early 1990s, which claimed some 30,000 lives and displaced about a million Azerbaijanis. Armenia has been occupying part of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territory since then.

Mehdiyev said Baku does not accept double standards in dealing with the Karabakh conflict and emphasized that the UN has passed four resolutions on an unconditional pullout of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied Azerbaijani territories, which have not been implemented so far.

"Despite the UN Security Council’s four resolutions, 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory remains under Armenian armed forces’ occupation. This occupation has to come to an end. The Azerbaijani government is making an effort to make this happen."

Mehdiyev said a priority issue today is to ensure a return of Azerbaijani internally displaced persons to their homes.

"The situation that has been forced in Nagorno Karabakh violates all norms and principles of international law. The world community, including the UN, must fulfill its mission, work to protect human rights and make an effort toward a liberation of Azerbaijani land from occupation."

Mehdiyev added that Nagorno Karabakh has never been an Armenian territory, reminding that the region was populated by Caucasus Albanians in the past.

Though the separatist regime in Nagorno Karabakh declared so-called independence at the time of the Soviet collapse in 1991, it has not been recognized by the world community.