Armenia shows disrespect to international community
By Laman Ismayilova
Armenia abuses the principle of the “right for self-determination” in order to cover up the results of occupation of Azerbaijani territories and the ethnic cleansing committed there.
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hikmet Hajiyev made the remark while commenting on the Armenian foreign minister’s speech at the UN Human Rights Council meeting.
Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian presented the occupation, aggression, terror and bloody ethnic cleansing against the other state as “self-determination” and talked about higher values.
“It is nothing but disrespect to the UN institutions and the international community,” Hajiyev said.
“Addressing the meeting of the UN Human Rights Council on the days of the anniversary of Khojaly genocide and political terror in Yerevan (March 1, 2008), Nalbandian talked about the prevention of genocide, protection of human rights and people’s right for self-determination, without a sense of guilt and shame,” Hajiyev said.
The bloody war, which flared up in the late 1980s as a result of Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor, left 700,000 civilians of Nagorno-Karabakh, the regions adjoining it, as well as regions bordering Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh without homes.
Moreover, 250,000 Azerbaijanis were expelled from Armenia and became refugees due to Armenia's ethnic cleansing policy after the eruption of violence in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The Azerbaijanis who had been displaced from their homes as result of the brutal war were forced to live in refugee camps and tents under very difficult conditions.
The spokesperson noted that Nalbandian’s remarks were full of lies and distortions. “I would like to refresh the memory of Armenia’s foreign minister. Helsinki Final Act, 1975, reads that all principles are interrelated to each other and reflects the importance of applying them on an equal and overall basis,” Hajiyev underlined.
The document also reads that states should refrain from the threat or the use of force against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of each other. Helsinki Final Act also confirms the principles of inviolability of borders and territorial integrity of states and inadmissibility of occupation of territories, he added.
Hajiyev stressed that people’s right for self-determination shouldn’t be interpreted as the right to act against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of other states.
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 caused a brutal war in the early 1990s. Long-standing efforts by the U.S., Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.
---
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz