Azernews.Az

The head of a major Islamic group has said on a visit to Azerbaijan that it strongly supports the country's right to regain its Armenia-occupied territories.

"This is an occupation defying international law, the resolutions of the UN Security Council and it is against the facts of history," Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri, the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) Director General, who is attending Baku International Humanitarian Forum, told journalists on Thursday.

Altwaijri advised all participants of the forum who support peace and security in this part of the world to back Azerbaijan's just position on liberating its occupied territories. "This occupation is illegal, it is inhuman," he added.

With regard to the opening of an airport in the past few days in Khankandi -- the center of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh republic run by ethnic Armenians in occupied Azerbaijani territories, Altwaijri said ISESCO opposes the move.

"What Armenians are doing is absolutely illegal," he said. According to him, the Armenian move will further exacerbate the situation in the region.

Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile cease-fire in 1994. Since then, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, defying international calls and UN resolutions. Long-standing efforts by US, Russian and French mediators have been fruitless so far.