A senior Azerbaijani official has accused the international community of turning a blind eye to Armenia's claims and actions in the region.
The head of the foreign relations department at the Presidential Administration, Novruz Mammadov, said that Armenia's actions ran counter to international law.
"What is striking about the current negotiations to settle the Karabakh conflict is that although the world community, international organizations and all countries led by the US and EU recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and repeat it occasionally, they turn a blind eye to the occupation of Azerbaijani land. They do not express their firm stance on this issue in terms of the norms of international law," Mammadov said.
He repeated calls made last week by another Presidential Administration official, Ali Hasanov, for more pressure to be brought to bear on Armenia to settle the conflict. Rather than pressure being brought to bear, assistance is often given to Armenia in the form of aid and loans, Mammadov said.
"It is the main issue in the conflict settlement today. Some see it, others do not, but it is the main point. Although the negotiation process involves three Minsk Group co-chairs, there is no balance in the participation of the states.
"The Russian president has been active in this process over the past 18 months, in an apparent effort to demonstrate his interest in settling the conflict and taking definite steps in this direction. However, this has not been effective yet.
"Though other countries are also co-chairing the Minsk Group to some extent, they limit themselves to only external observation. Frankly speaking, the co-chairs’ will is not enough to settle the conflict," he said.
As for whether any agreement had been achieved in the negations on the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, withdrawal of Armenian troops from Azerbaijani lands and status of Nagorno Karabakh, Mammadov said no agreement had yet been reached.
"If an agreement had been reached, there would not be any problems. Although this has to be settled and put on the talks agenda, the Armenian side, Armenian leadership does not come under any pressure from either the co-chairs or the international community and organizations. Meanwhile, they try to preserve the status quo and protract the negotiating process," he said.
Mammadov said the Armenians came up with many pretexts to protract the negotiations.
"The Armenians have built their history on falsifications. There are serious sources on this in both America and our region. These sources and materials were not written by Azerbaijanis. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, American, Russian and European researchers wrote that history is very different from how the Armenians describe it. However, despite this, they cite different grounds now.
"It reached the point that under the pretence of keeping Karabakh independent, they control seven other regions of Azerbaijan in an attempt to use them as a buffer zone for a while. This runs counter to all the norms of international law."
He echoed remarks by President Ilham Aliyev at a cabinet meeting last week in which he 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.
"If today the superpowers, US, EU and their main structure NATO, are so indifferent to these issues, how can they pass a resolution on Libya and launch its execution the same day, though they did not get unanimous support?" Mammadov asked.
"Meanwhile, the resolutions on Azerbaijan adopted 20 years ago were unanimous. Why is NATO not willing to condemn the occupation in the European area, but is doing this in Africa? We very much regret this."
According to the presidential official, Azerbaijan does not deserve this attitude.
"Azerbaijan is the only state in the post-Soviet area which implements successful projects with the EU and Europe. We conduct political reforms, take serious steps for integration and conduct serious activity to fight terrorism. But, unfortunately, for some reason the world turns a blind eye to this and declines to make the appropriate assessment," Mammadov said.
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