President Ilham Aliyev has restated Azerbaijan's position that independence is impossible for the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
He made the remarks on Tuesday at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers to review socioeconomic performance in the first quarter, APA reported, citing state-run news agency AzerTAj.
Ilham Aliyev contrasted the rapid enforcement of the recent UN Security Council resolution on Libya with the failure to implement the resolutions on Karabakh, passed in the early 90s.
“This is injustice, this is double standards and this discrimination cannot be explained in any way, because the Armenians committed genocide against the Azerbaijanis. Armenians committed genocide in Khojaly, brutally killed innocent people. For some reason, at that time the international community remained indifferent to our grief. For many years, the internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan has been under occupation," the president said.
“Four resolutions of the Security Council, resolutions of the European Parliament, Council of Europe, Organization of the Islamic Conference, NATO - all of these resolutions require the withdrawal of Armenian forces from the occupied lands. However, the question has not been solved. Azerbaijani citizens are right to ask: why is the attitude towards us different? What causes this? I address this question to the international community, to countries that enjoy authority on the international stage."
Ilham Aliyev summed up Azerbaijan's position on the conflict: "The territorial integrity of Azerbaijan must be restored and no conditions should be set... Once again I want to say: granting independence to Nagorno-Karabakh is impossible. It is not and never will be a topic of discussion."
He said that a high degree of autonomy could be granted to Karabakh.
The president recalled that the OSCE made a field assessment mission to the Armenian-occupied areas last year at the suggestion of the Azerbaijani side.
"As you know, a similar mission visited the occupied lands in 2005. It was a fact-finding mission. That's what it was called. The mission's main objective was to study the situation in the occupied lands and to prepare a report. I know that the Azerbaijani public has different views on the mission's final report. Our public has rightly expressed concern that the wording of this report is not so sharp," the president said.
”But I want to note that the purpose and mandate of the mission were to examine the situation and reflect what they saw in the report. From this perspective, I think that the issues identified in the report reflect reality”, Ilham Aliyev continued.
The president highlighted some of the issues in the report. “Firstly, it is openly stated that the Armenians destroyed the entire infrastructure of the occupied territories. We already knew that what was shown in the report in 2005 would be shown again this year. That is, with their own eyes the mission saw the consequences of Armenian vandalism. Our mosques, graves, all the infrastructure has been destroyed or looted. The second important issue is that the report says that the administrative borders of occupied areas cannot be changed artificially. This requirement is addressed directly to Armenia. We are well aware that the so-called local authorities there, on orders from Armenia, want to artificially change the boundaries of our regions," President Aliyev said.
"The report shows clearly that the names of historic, ancient districts have been changed. This complaint is addressed directly to Armenia as they try to change the names of our towns and, moreover, no-one recognizes or will recognize the new names."
The report refers to a policy of illegal settlements in the occupied territories. "Currently in Lachin and Kalbajar districts - most of all in these two districts - 14,000 cases of illegal settlement have been noted, that is, 14,000 people live there who should not be there. They were resettled on the land afterwards, which is also indicated in the report as a true fact," the president said.
The report says that the status quo cannot continue, he said. "I think this is one of the most important issues in the report, as the Azerbaijani state has for many years raised the issue of changing the status quo from every rostrum, in all international organizations and in face-to-face meetings with officials and the [OSCE Minsk Group] co-chairs."
He accused the Armenian side of using every opportunity to delay negotiations.
"We have repeatedly said that Armenia is not sincere in the talks. Their goal is not a solution of the issue. Their aim is to control the occupied lands for as long as possible and in future to make a de facto situation de jure. These are their intentions: the more time passes, the better the international community will tolerate the situation, and so the situation, the negotiation process, will be infinite."
Ilham Aliyev said that the Azerbaijani side had repeatedly said that this was impossible and that it would not participate in negotiations for the sake of negotiations. The status quo has to be changed, which means the withdrawal of the occupying forces. "I think it is very important to specify this argument in the report. Azerbaijan’s position is supported by the OSCE [Minsk Group] co-chairing countries. This is not the first time that the status quo has been declared unacceptable. Senior officials of the co-chairing countries have said this in their statements. If the status quo will be changed - and it must be changed - the occupying forces will be withdrawn from the occupied Azerbaijani land and this needs to happen soon.”
“Armenia should not be allowed artificially, under various pretexts, to delay the negotiations. Armenia should specifically respond to specific proposals to begin the liberation of Azerbaijani lands,” President Ilham Aliyev said.
Armenia has been occupying a swathe of Azerbaijani territory, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts, since the two countries fought a bloody war over the Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. The war ended when a ceasefire was signed in 1994, but no long-term peace agreement has been reached.
The nub of the conflict remains unresolved - the competing claims of territorial integrity, which Azerbaijan insists takes precedence in the case of Karabakh, and self-determination, which Armenia wants to see for the Armenians of Karabakh.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
