Azerbaijan to use its right to restore territorial integrity

By Sara Rajabova - AzerNews 

Baku has warned if the peace talks fail to put an end to the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territories, then the country will use its right under the UN Charter to restore its territorial integrity.

The warning was voiced by Azerbaijan’s foreign minister from a tribune of the United Nations, one of the most influential international organizations, which has main task to work towards ensuring peace and stability in the world.

“Azerbaijan is the most interested party in the soonest negotiated settlement of the conflict. However, if the negotiations fail to bring as an outcome the complete and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenia armed forces from our occupied lands, Azerbaijan will be compelled to use its inherent right of self-defense guaranteed under Article 51 of the UN Charter to ensure the restoration of its sovereignty and territorial integrity within the internationally recognized borders,” Elmar Mammadyarov said, at the general debate of the 70th session of UN General Assembly on September 30, the foreign ministry reported.

Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, the Armenian Armed Forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven surrounding regions.

More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over one million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

Touching upon the Armenian president’s statement at the general debate, Mammadyarov said the Armenian president delivered a speech, full of usual set of falsifications, distortions and misinterpretations, in which he attempted once again to lecture others about the principles and values, which in reality his government disregards and opposes.

“The international community still recalls brutal massacres by the occupant Armenian troops of Azerbaijani civilians, including children, women and the elderly, as well as the establishment of the military dictatorship in Armenia after murdering the entire political elite of the country and killing a number of peaceful demonstrators protesting the rigged presidential elections,” the minister said.

He stressed that it is well known that Armenia unleashed the war and used force against Azerbaijan, occupied almost one fifth of its territory, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven adjacent regions, carried out ethnic cleansing of the seized areas by expelling about one million Azerbaijanis from their homes and committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during the conflict.

Mammadyarov said the international community has consistently deplored, in the strongest terms, the use of force by Armenia against Azerbaijan and the resulting occupation of its territories.

“In 1993, the UN Security Council adopted resolutions 822 (1993), 853 (1993), 874 (1993) and 884 (1993), condemning the occupation of the Azerbaijani territories and reaffirming respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country and the inviolability of its internationally recognized borders. In those resolutions, the Security Council also confirmed that the Nagorno-Karabakh region is part of Azerbaijan, and demanded immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the occupying forces from all the occupied Azerbaijani territories. Other international organizations have adopted a similar position,” Mammadyarov said.

Furthermore, he highlighted a judgment by the European Court of Human Rights in the case of ‘Chiragov and others versus Armenia’ that held the occupant country responsible for the occupation of the Azerbaijani territories and violations of the rights of Azerbaijani IDPs.

“In total disregard of this judgment and the norms and principles of international law, Armenia continues its efforts aimed at further consolidating the status quo of the occupation by altering the physical, demographic and cultural characters of the occupied territories and to deny the right of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijani forcibly displaced persons to return to their homes and access to their properties,” Mammadyarov said.

The minister also touched upon the recent falsified and biased statement of the Armenian president that “Nagorno-Karabakh is an inseparable part of Armenia”.

“We categorically reject this fallacious and bellicose statement, which testifies to Armenia’s apparent disregard of its obligations under the UN Charter and international law, represents a yet another admission at the highest level of aggression perpetrated by Armenia against Azerbaijan and demonstrates how the Armenian leadership is far from engaging in a constructive search for peace. In that statement, Armenian president even boasted his country to be one of the most militarized areas of the world,” Mammadyarov said.

He pointed out that against this background, Armenia’s speculations on confidence-building measures are curious.

“In fact, the real reasons for the lack of confidence are Armenia’s overt territorial claims to neighboring countries, aggression against Azerbaijan, occupation and ethnic cleansing of its territories, denial of its responsibility for atrocious crimes committed in the course of the conflict, opposition to direct contacts between the Azerbaijani and Armenian communities of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and reluctance to cooperate seriously on the issues of missing persons,” Mammadyarov said.

Despite repeated calls by the international community and Baku to contribute to meaningful dialogue between the two communities as a real confidence-building measure, Yerevan has obstructed meetings between the Azerbaijani and Armenian communities of Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Mammadyarov went on to say that in reality, for an effective confidence building, it is critical, first and foremost, to implement without further delay the plan of withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the Azerbaijani occupied territories.

He also touched upon the escalation of the tension on the contact line of the Armenian-Azerbaijani troops and call by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to accept a mechanism to investigate ceasefire violations.

“As for the ideas on elaborating a mechanism for investigating incidents along the line of contact, we should note that the major cause of those incidents is the continuing unlawful presence of the Armenian armed forces in the Azerbaijani occupied territories. Such an investigation mechanism must be an integral component of the above-mentioned withdrawal plan. Otherwise, it will serve for consolidating the status quo, which even the presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries have repeatedly stated to be unacceptable and unsustainable,” Mammadyarov said.

The minister further noted that Nagorno-Karabakh region has always been and will remain inalienable part of Azerbaijan.

“We will never reconcile with the seizure of our territories. The conflict can only be resolved on the basis of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan within its internationally recognized borders. The military occupation of the Azerbaijani territory does not represent a solution and shall never produce a political outcome desired by Armenia. The sooner Armenia reconciles with this reality, the earlier the conflict will be resolved and the countries and peoples in the region will benefit from the prospects of cooperation and economic development,” Mammadyarov said.

He noted that Azerbaijan highly appreciates the principled stance of the UN member states that has been repeatedly expressed on issues that are of utmost importance for Azerbaijan and pertaining to its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“We count on the continued resolve of the international community in defending the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, as well as its strong solidarity with Azerbaijan’s just position.