Bosnia and Herzegovina seeks multilateral co-op with Azerbaijan
By Aynur Jafarova
Bosnia and Herzegovina is interested in the development of cooperation with Azerbaijan in all areas, Foreign Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija who is on an official visit to Azerbaijan said at a meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov on June 10, Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry said.
According to him, there are good opportunities for the development of cooperation in the energy and economic sectors and in particular, in the fields of tourism, telecommunications and infrastructure.
Lagumdzija said political relations between the two countries are at a very good level. Bosnia and Herzegovina supports Azerbaijan on its Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Armenia, and stands for its peaceful settlement.
Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that had caused a lengthy war in the early 1990s. The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenia's withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been enforced to this day.
Lagumdzija also called on Azerbaijani investors to participate in economic projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Azerbaijani minister, in turn, highly assessed the level of bilateral relations, citing bright prospects for their development.
Mammadyarov thanked Bosnia and Herzegovina for its fair position in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and for the passage of a resolution on the Khiojaly massacre by its parliament.
The Khojaly massacre is one of the most heinous and bloodiest events of the 20th century. Late into the night of February 25, 1992, the town of Khojaly came under intensive fire from the town of Khankendi and Askeran already occupied by Armenian armed forces. 613 civilians were killed, including 106 women, 70 elderly and 83 children, and a total of 1,000 civilians were disabled. Moreover, 1,275 innocent people were taken hostage.
A document on the aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan and recognition of the Khojaly genocide was adopted at the House of Peoples, the upper chamber of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Parliamentary Assembly, on February 26, 2013, the 21st anniversary of the massacre. The resolution, which supported the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, was passed by an overwhelming majority.
Mammadyarov also said there is extensive potential for developing the economic, energy, tourism, humanitarian and cultural cooperation between the two countries. He stressed the importance of establishing a joint intergovernmental commission as well as the signing of agreements on lifting double taxation and protection of investments.
According to Azerbaijan's State Customs Committee, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Bosnia and Herzegovina as of 2012 amounted to about $287,000 and decreased by 27.5 percent compared to 2011.
The relations between Azerbaijan and Bosnia and Herzegovina are developing in the cultural and humanitarian fields.
Both countries have an abundant history of cultural ties, which is proven by the discovery of manuscripts of outstanding Azerbaijani poets Nizami Ganjavi and Muhammed Fuzuli in the library of Gazi Khosrov in Sarajevo.
As an indicator of friendly bilateral ties, reconstruction and restoration work has been carried out with the support and on the initiative of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation at the center for blind and visually impaired children and youth in Sarajevo.
Restoration work was carried out at the initiative of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in the Baku Street in Sarajevo and the street was inaugurated on November 8, 2011.
Also, a park of friendship between Azerbaijan and Bosnia and Herzegovina was established on February 24, 2012 on the bank of the Dobrinya River at the initiative and with organizational support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation.
A memorial reflecting the genocides in Khojaly and Srebrenica was created in the park. The words In Memory of Victims of the Khojaly Genocide were engraved on the monument.
The creation of the memorial complex at the initiative of Heydar Aliyev Foundation Vice President Leyla Aliyeva in memory of the Khojaly genocide victims in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina is important from the political and historical points of view.
What the two nations have in common from the historical point of view is that they both suffered from aggression and massacres in Khojaly and Srebrenica.
More than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims, mainly men and boys, were killed in the genocide which happened during the Bosnian War in July 1995 in the town of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina, by units of the Army of Republika Srpska. The mass killings were described by the Secretary General of the United Nations as the worst crime on European soil since World War II.