President Aliyev: Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity must be restored

By  Trend

It is necessary to put an end to the Armenian occupation as soon as possible, the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan must be restored, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said at the Trilateral Summit of heads of state Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia, held Nov. 1 in Tehran.

The Azerbaijani president said that adoption of norms of international law today in the world is one of the most important issues on the agenda.

“Unfortunately, in many cases, these norms don’t work and are grossly violated,” he said. “The Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is a clear example of that. For more than 20 years, Armenia has been keeping under occupation Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding seven districts that are ancestral lands, an integral part of Azerbaijan. In the occupied lands, the population of Azerbaijan was subjected to the policy of ethnic cleansing, one million of our compatriots turned into refugees and IDPs.”

The president of Azerbaijan noted that influential international organizations have adopted the relevant resolutions regarding the conflict.

“These include the resolutions of the leading structure of the world, the UN Security Council, which require the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from our occupied lands, similar resolutions adopted by the Non-Aligned Movement, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the OSCE and other organizations,” he added. “However, Armenia ignores them. The country doesn’t comply with the resolutions of the UN Security Council and continues its occupation policy.”

President Ilham Aliyev noted that in some cases, the UN Security Council resolutions are executed immediately.

“This is while the resolutions adopted regarding the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have remained on paper for more than 20 years,” he said. “This is an indicator of double standards. Today’s status quo is unacceptable and must be changed. Our refugees and IDPs must return to their ancestral lands.”