Azernews.Az

BAKU – The Azerbaijani government welcomes NATO’s operations against Gaddafi’s rule in Libya, a presidential aide has said, but lambasted the world community’s "double standards" over its failure to pressure Armenia that occupies part of neighboring Azerbaijan’s territory.

Ali Hasanov told the Baku-based Trend news agency Wednesday that the UN Security Council’s decision urging to put an end to violence against the Libyan people and military operations that have killed scores of civilians in the country were "commendable".

Hasanov said, however, that "a number of logical questions are arising" over a swift enforcement of the UN decision, promptly launching military action against Gaddafi-controlled forces by the world community and NATO’s involvement in these efforts.

"Whereas a single UN resolution passed against the Libyan dictator was enforced immediately and decisively, four UN resolutions on a pullout of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied Azerbaijani territories have not been implemented for 20 years.

"This indicates double standards in world policy and that the countries wielding considerable influence in the shape-up of global policies… are pursuing a two-fold policy. The four UN SC resolutions on the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno Karabakh must be enforced as decisively and promptly as the resolution passed on Libya."

The Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 due to Armenia’s territorial claims. Azerbaijan and Armenia waged a war in the early 1990s, which claimed some 30,000 lives. About 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory, including Nagorno Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, has been under the occupation of the Armenian armed forces since a ceasefire was signed in 1994. The four UN resolutions on an unconditional Armenian pullout have not been implemented to date.

Hasanov said the UN’s passing a resolution and then "staying out" of the matter and failure to take compulsory action ultimately facilitates the decision’s non-enforcement.

"Expecting that Armenia would enforce the requirements set forth in the resolutions on its own free will and failing to impose compulsory measures upon it is dealing a major blow to the UN’s image," Hasanov said.

He noted further that ensuring the safety of civilians in Libya was pivotal, but such measures should also apply to the thousands of Azerbaijanis killed during the war with Armenia and up to a million Azerbaijanis displaced by the armed conflict.

"The Libyan dictator’s actions are not more brutal and tragic than the massacres and atrocities perpetrated by the Armenians in Khojaly, Garadaghly, Gushchular, Baghanis Ayrim and other residential areas of Azerbaijan. The number of Azerbaijanis killed during the Armenian invasion of Azerbaijan’s territories is tens of times more than that of the people killed during the clashes between rebels and Gaddafi’s troops. The total number of people in Azerbaijan suffering from Armenian occupation is many times higher than that of the people affected by the military operations in Libya."

Hasanov pointed out that following a massacre of Bosnian Muslims in Serbia, the UN SC established an international tribunal on the former Yugoslavia.

"Why aren’t the perpetrators of the Khojaly and Garadaghly events being arraigned at the international tribunal?" he queried.

Hasanov said that considering the lack of results from the many-year-long efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group, which is brokering peace talks, and its reluctance to press on invader Armenia, the world community should act expeditiously -- just as it did in the case of Libya -- to enforce the four UN resolutions concerning the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

"The international community must put an end to its double standards, and the UN SC must respect the decisions it has adopted," Hasanov added.