Baku says high time to withdraw Armenian military forces from occupied lands
By Rashid Shirinov
Azerbaijan`s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has stated that the time has indeed come to liberate the occupied territories of the country.
“Enough is enough. It is exact time to reach a breakthrough on the negotiation table and start withdrawal of Armenian military forces from the occupied lands of Azerbaijan,” Mammadyarov said on September 1 as he addressed the Informal Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the OSCE participating States in Potsdam, Germany.
The minister drew the attention of the participants to the fact that security in the OSCE area is undermined by unresolved armed conflicts, continued military aggressions, growing pressure of terrorism, violent extremism, separatism, cyber-attacks, radicalization and others.
“Intolerance and discrimination, especially on the ground of ethnicity and religion, such as Islamophobia is also serious challenge. Most of today’s international security problems have been caused by deliberate violation and misinterpretation of international law,” he said.
The minister voiced regret that it is sometimes thought that for achieving short-term political goals, norms and principles of international law can be disregarded. And some even actively violate them by use of force against the territorial integrity of states.
“I have bitterly to admit that first in the OSCE this was started by neighboring Armenia against my country. In full violation of international law and respective UN SC resolutions, Armenia through the more than two decades occupies territories of Azerbaijan and conducted notorious ethnic cleansing on these seized lands,” the minister said.
"Everyone here recognizes and knows well about Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: Who is aggressor! Who has occupied Azerbaijan's land! Who uses the force against my country! Who violated international and humanitarian law! And when there are almost 1 million refugees and IDPs in Azerbaijan,” the minister emphasized.
The top official once again reminded that respect to the internationally recognized borders is a must for the world order and the international community. “In this context, the inadmissibility of attempts of altering the internationally recognized borders of states by use of forces must be fully provided,” Mammadyarov said.
Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including NagornoKarabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.
Two decades of talks mediated by the OSCE MG group have failed to produce a breakthrough, and the renewed hostilities in April 2016, the worst since the ceasefire deal signed in 1994, were assessed as the result of inactivity of the international community.