Illegal actions in occupied Azerbaijani territories create big problems

By  Trend

Illegal actions in the occupied Azerbaijani territories create big problems for the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Head of the Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Hikmet Hajiyev said, Trend reports on Feb. 25.

"The results of any action committed with the use of force can never gain legitimacy,” he said. “To carry out illegal activity by using the situation which has occurred as a result of the use of force is unacceptable."

Hajiyev appealed to the international community and said that one must not turn a blind eye to Armenia’s such illegal actions.

"Sometimes individuals and legal entities of foreign countries carry out illegal activity in the occupied Azerbaijani territories and they should put an end to such illegal activity,” he added.

“When we provide irrefutable facts, send diplomatic notes to the countries from which these citizens are, the corresponding structures of those countries stress that there are no such norms in the legislation,” Hajiyev said. “Then it turns out that the laws of those countries must not be violated, while Azerbaijan’s laws may be violated. But one must not forget that along with the national legislation, there are international law and international norms, according to which each country is responsible."

He stressed that such illegal actions should be prevented to achieve progress in the conflict's peaceful settlement.

“Otherwise, illegal actions create real and big problems to the conflict settlement,” Hajiyev 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 Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.