The most important statements and the position of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict were presented in details to the OSCE countries in the report on the events in the region and activities of the personal representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on the conflict.
The report was obtained by Trend from the diplomatic sources in Vienna.
“The longer the Nagorno-Karabakh issue is delayed, the more Armenia is exposed to recession,” Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev was quoted in the report obtained by the agency and disseminated in the OSCE countries. “If it goes on like this, Armenia as a country will disappear from the world map in the future.”
“The international community must distinguish between occupier and the country that was subjected to occupation,” President Aliyev commented at a joint press conference with Donald Tusk, the European Council president, in Baku. “The causes of the conflict shouldn’t be forgotten. Armenian separatists attacked Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh with the support of the Armenian side. Some 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory was occupied.”
“Azerbaijani people were expelled…They destroyed our historical and religious monuments…,” the report quoted Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev as saying. “And now they accuse Azerbaijan of blockading … [and] xenophobia. Azerbaijan is a multi-ethnic, multi-confessional country."
Furthermore, the report highlighted Ilham Aliyev’s remarks during the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers.
“There is no progress in the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” said the president during the meeting. “Armenia simply boycotts the negotiations and tries to drag out the issue.”
“But the longer the issue is delayed, the more Armenia is exposed to recession, said Aliyev.
The report also contains the interview with Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov during which he put forward the official interpretation of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) judgments in the cases of Chiragov and others v. Armenia and Sargsyan v. Azerbaijan dated June 16.
“ECHR put an end to Armenia’s denial of its responsibility for the occupation of and military presence in the territories of Azerbaijan …,” said the minister.
“Invasion and attack by the armed forces of one state on the territory of another state, or resulting military occupation … are the most egregious manifestations of aggression, as per … the definition of the UN General Assembly …,” he said. “Attacks by the Armenian and Armenian-backed troops against … Azerbaijan and aerial bombardments, as was confirmed by the Court, triggers the right of self-defense of Azerbaijan.”
“The Court reaffirmed the right of displaced persons to return to their places of residence …,” Mammadyarov said. “In this context, in the Court’s view … continued presence of Armenian and Armenian-backed troops and ceasefire breaches is the major obstacle for the Azerbaijanis to return to their homes …”
“Armenia is under the obligation … to put an end to the occupation … and to withdraw immediately, completely and unconditionally its armed forces …,” he said. “The implementation of that obligation, which would create necessary conditions for the return of Azerbaijani IDPs, can in no way be considered or introduced as a compromise and used as a ‘bargaining chip’.”
Trend