Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

The Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has adopted resolution on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Saudi city Jeddah hosted the 41st Session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers entitled "Exploring Areas of Islamic Cooperation" on June 18-19.

Addressing the session, OIC Secretary General Iyad Ameen Madani touched upon the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

He reiterated his support for Azerbaijan, saying the county`s lands had still been under Armenia`s occupation.

Madani called on the OIC member states to support Azerbaijan`s just position on the dispute. He also expressed OIC`s readiness to contribute to efforts to find a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh problem in compliance with Azerbaijan`s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

Ambassador at Large, Agshin Mehdiyev, who represented Azerbaijan at the session, said Azerbaijan was in solidarity with Muslim countries, and expressed the country`s keenness to strengthen cooperation with the OIC member states.

He also noted the importance of strengthening efforts to prevent and combat international terrorism and Islamophobic trends.

Mehdiyev provided an insight into Armenia`s aggression against Azerbaijan. He thanked the OIC member states for continuous support of Azerbaijan's position on the dispute.

The Council of Foreign Ministers adopted resolutions called "The aggression of the Republic of Armenia against the Republic of Azerbaijan" and "Destruction and desecration of the Islamic historical and cultural heritage and places of worship in the occupied Azerbaijani lands as a result of the aggression of the Republic of Armenia against the Republic of Azerbaijan".

The resolution also features a special paragraph on the "Justice for Khojaly" campaign, which was presented by the Islamic Conference Youth Forum for Dialogue and Cooperation.

Under this paragraph, the campaign is encouraged by the FMs of the OIC member states, and the member states urge to actively participate and make the necessary efforts for recognition of the Khojaly genocide, committed by the Armenian armed forces in 1992, as a crime against humanity on local and international levels.

The 40th session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers also adopted a resolution recognizing the Khojaly massacre as genocide.

The OIC always kept the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in focus. Its member states expressed concern over the occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenian and looting and destruction of the archeological, cultural and religious monuments in those areas, including Islamic monuments in the resolution adopted by the organization during the OIC summit in Dakar, Senegal in 2008.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since a 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.

The UN Security Council's four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal have not been enforced to this day.