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Armenians are seeking to present the Nagorno Karabakh conflict in Europe as a religious conflict, Azerbaijani ambassador to Italy has said in an interview with the Italian Limes magazine.

"It is very important for all people to know about this because our Armenian opponents are trying to present the Nagorno Karabakh conflict in Europe and in Italy in particular as one between small Christian Armenia and large Muslim states, namely, Azerbaijan and Turkey," Vagif Sadykhov said. "However, among the victims killed by Armenians in Azerbaijan there were not only Muslim Azerbaijanis but also Jews and Orthodox Russians. Therefore, there has never been a religious component in the conflict. Armenians try to present the conflict this way, but in fact, our position on this issue is very clear: this is a classic conflict based on the territorial claims of one state to another."

The ambassador reminded that Armenian armed forces occupy 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territories.

A fragile ceasefire has been in place in the region since a brutal war in the 1990s that claimed some 30,000 lives and displaced about one million Azerbaijanis from their homes. Armenia continues to occupy a part of Azerbaijan’s territory, despite four UN resolutions on an unconditional pullout of its armed forces and condemnation by a number of other international groups.

"As a result of the aggression, ethnic cleansing took place in Armenia where 250,000 Azerbaijanis, who had lived there for centuries, were forcibly driven out," Sadykhov continued. "Thus, Armenia could be considered a monoethnic state today. On the other hand, about 30,000 Armenians and many inter-ethnic Azerbaijani-Armenian families currently live in Baku."

"Ethnic cleansing and expatriation of Azerbaijanis living in the Nagorno Karabakh region of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia was the second stage. The point is that 70,000 people are forcibly displaced persons, " he said.

Sadykhov said the occupation of seven regions around Nagorno Karabakh is "the third element of the Armenian aggression".

"These people also fell victim of aggression and deportation. Thus, we have 250,000 people deported from Armenia, 70,000 from Nagorno Karabakh and 700,000 from the surrounding regions. In total, there are about one million refugees and IDPs," the diplomat said.

Sadykhov said the situation has not changed since 1994 – since a ceasefire accord was signed -- and this is one of the outrageous violations of human rights which defies the UN Security Council resolutions on the issue.

The ambassador went on to say that Russia has proved that it aspires to facilitate a settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict within the mediating OSCE Minsk Group.

"Russian presidents have organized over ten meetings between the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents [in past years]. Unfortunately, the Minsk Group has been working since 1994, but it has not achieved any tangible results," Sadykhov said.

This story is published by AzerNEWS Weekly under a project funded by the Foundation for State Assistance to the Development of the Media under the President of the Azerbaijan Republic.