Financial support to illegal regime protracts Karabakh conflict: Azerbaijani official

By  Trend

Providing financial support to the regime created in Azerbaijan’s occupied territories means protracting the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said Ambassador Kamil Khasiyev, head of department at Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry.

He was speaking May 8 in Baku at the second session of the 15th meeting of the EU-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Cooperation Committee.

“Financial resources have been illegally invested so far in Azerbaijan’s occupied territories and continue to be invested,” he said.

Khasiyev noted that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is one of the main factors of instability in the region.

“Such conflicts lead to instability in the regions where they occur,” he said. “The UN resolutions supporting the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan were adopted on this conflict. They repeatedly say that Nagorno-Karabakh is an integral part of Azerbaijan. However, Armenia continues its aggressive policy, violating the international law.”

Azerbaijan expects the EU and its member states, in accordance with international obligations, to start applying political and economic measures that are used in such situations, Khasiyev said.

He noted that foreigners are engaged in illegal economic activity in the occupied Azerbaijani territories.

“It is necessary to implement certain measures so that individuals and legal entities from the EU member states don’t engage in economic activity in Azerbaijan’s occupied territories,” he added.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.