Failing peace efforts prompt Azerbaijan to free its occupied land - defense chief
By Gulgiz Dadashova
The failure of peace efforts aimed at resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict leaves no other choice for Azerbaijan but to liberate its Armenian-occupied territories by bolstering the armed forces, Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiyev has said.
"Azerbaijan has no other way but to liberate the occupied territory by strengthening its army," Abiyev said at a meeting with a Korean parliamentary delegation in Baku on July 12.
Abiyev reminded that the Azerbaijani territories occupied by the invader Armenia have not been returned so far.
"Despite efforts to peacefully resolve the conflict, Armenia is holding on to its invasion policy," he said, adding that the UN Security Council resolutions and OSCE Minsk Group's efforts in this regard have been fruitless.
Armenia's territorial claims in the late 1980s and the ensuing military aggression resulted in the occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and also seven surrounding regions. Over a million Azerbaijanis became refugees and IDPs in the aftermath of the brutal 1990s war fought between the two South Caucasus republics.
In Nagorno-Karabakh, adjacent regions and the regions bordering on Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh about 700,000 people were deprived of their places of residence and turned into IDPs. They are temporarily settled in 62 cities and regions of Azerbaijan in more than 1,600 densely populated areas.