Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Karabakh International Coalition was created upon the initiative of several NGOs of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia with an aim to expose the occupiers and those who speculate on the recognition of a fictional ‘Armenian genocide’.

Although Azerbaijan’s internationally-recognized territories are still under Armenian occupation and more than one million Azerbaijanis become refugees and internally displaced persons in their own country as a result of Yerevan’s ethnic cleansing policy, the occupant country still remains unpunished for its crimes.

The world community hasn’t given the required assessment to the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and doesn’t name the aggressor and the victim.

Akif Naghi, chairman of Karabakh Liberation Organization told local media that the main aim of creating the coalition is to deliver to the world the truth about the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh.

He said the coalition will primarily deal with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, as well as with the problems faced by the Turkic world.

“We have set a goal to expose claims on the so-called ‘Armenian genocide’. The time has come for organizations speaking the truth to unite,” Naghi said.

Goksel Gulbey, head of the International Association to Fight Unfounded Armenian Allegations (ASİM-DER), for his part, said that Turks’ rights are being violated by international forces in numerous issues like in the Karabakh issue.

“We should further take a sensitive approach towards the issue and restore Turks’ rights. It is not accidental that the Armenian lobby is forcing us out in the international media. We need to work together in this regard for future of our countries,” Gulbey said.

Elman Pashayev, the deputy head of public-political affairs department of the Presidential Administration welcomed the creation of the coalition as a significant step.

“The Karabakh problem is rooted in groundless claims of Armenians and unfortunately, these claims are going on. In this regard, I think the coalition will work for exposure of groundless Armenian claims,” Pashayev said.

For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions.

A fragile ceasefire has been in place since 1994, but long-standing efforts by U.S., Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far. Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on its pullout from the neighboring country's territories.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

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