Azernews.Az

The Azerbaijani people and state have enough power and will to liberate their territory from Armenian occupation and restore historical justice if Armenia fails to pull its troops, ruling Yeni (New) Azerbaijan Party`s deputy chairman Ali Ahmadov told journalists.

``Armenia has committed aggression against Azerbaijan and occupied 20 percent of our lands, and this occupation has lasted 20 years [since the war between the two South Caucasus republics],`` Ahmadov said. ``The UN Security Council and other international organizations have passed decisions on this issue. All this means that no matter what statements the Armenian president makes, the world community and international law demand that Armenia free Azerbaijani lands.``

Ahmadov stressed that Armenia and its government invaded the neighboring country`s territories by shedding blood.

``This bloodshed, this injustice, has been committed not only against Azerbaijan,`` Ahmadov said. ``They acted unfairly in respect of their people as well. They shed the blood of their own citizens to occupy the territory of another country. And it is their own business how they respond to the parents of their soldiers whose blood was shed.``

Mediators` visit expected
OSCE mediators brokering settlement to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict are due to visit the region May 11-13, Armenia Today news agency reported.

The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Robert Bradtke of the United States, Igor Popov of Russia and Jacques Faure of France - as well as OSCE Chairman-in-Office personal representative Andrzej Kasprzyk are due to arrive in Armenia on May 11. Over the following two days they will reportedly visit Nagorno Karabakh, an occupied Azerbaijani region where ethnic Armenians are running a self-proclaimed republic, and further visit Azerbaijan.

The Minsk Group has been mediating peace talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia since the two South Caucasus republics signed a precarious cease-fire following the lengthy war in the early 1990s. Peace talks have been largely fruitless so far.