Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has urged the international community to bring to justice those responsible for crimes against civilians.

Mammadyarov made this statement during the UN Security Council open debate on "The Protection of civilians in Armed Conflicts" in New York.

Mammadyarov said efforts to ensure a peaceful, just and prosperous world have not always been consistent and successful and as a consequence, civilians continue to suffer from inadequate protection and discriminatory treatment in situations of armed conflict.

"The war launched by neighboring Armenia against Azerbaijan led to the occupation of the country's territories and continues to exert an impact on the civilian population," he said. "As a result of the Armenian aggression, every ninth Azerbaijani resident is a refugee or internally displaced person."

The world community is aware of Azerbaijan's position on the issue. Azerbaijan stands for a peaceful settlement of all conflicts and consistent development, he said.

Mammadyarov regretted that the international community has not properly assessed gross violations of the rights of Azerbaijani people driven out from their native lands as a result of Armenian aggression.

He also spoke about the genocide in Khojaly.

"An act of genocide was committed against Azerbaijani civilians in Khojaly 21 years ago," he said. "More than 600 civilians were killed in the city during one night just because they were Azerbaijanis."

These facts of ethnic cleansing and genocide, attacks on the local population are a violation of international humanitarian law, he said.

On February 25-26, 1992, Armenian occupation forces together with the 366th infantry regiment of Soviet troops stationed in Khankendi (earlier Stepanakert) fired on the Azerbaijani town of Khojali that had been under siege for months when in one night the town was razed to the ground. Some 613 people were killed including 63 children, 106 women and 70 old men. A total of 1000 civilians were disabled during the genocide. Eight families were killed, 130 children lost one parent and 25 lost both. Additionally, 1275 innocent residents were taken hostage, while the fate of 150 remains unknown.

Mammadyarov said the UN must play a more active role in this issue.

"All forms of armed conflicts, including protracted conflicts need your special attention," he stressed.

"IDPs have a right to return to their homes. Issues of property, lands, discrimination on ethnic grounds, occurring in such situations, require a more consistent approach to put an end to illegal actions and to return displaced people their homes."

The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenia's withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but Armenia has not followed them to this day.

He added that it is necessary to put an end to the violation of rights of people affected by armed conflict.

UN Security Council open debate on "The Protection of civilians in Armed Conflicts" chaired by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Kim Sung-Hwan. Representatives from 15 UN Security Council member states along with those representing 55 countries and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the European Union have made speeches in the meeting.

At the end of the meeting the statement by the chairman was adopted. Several important points were included to the statement on the recommendations of Azerbaijan.

Speaking to the debate the chairman of OIC Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu expressed the organization's special concern about the refugees that forcibly expelled from their native lands in Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since the lengthy war in the early 1990s that displaced over one million Azerbaijanis, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.

Peace negotiations are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles, also known as Basic Principles. The document envisions a return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control, determining the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh, a corridor linking Armenia to the region, and the right of all internally displaced persons to return home.