Karabakh conflict highlighted during NATO Commander’s visit

By Azernews

By Rasana Gasimova

Azerbaijan’s First Deputy Minister of Defense, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Colonel General Najmeddin Sadikhov has praised NATO's position on supporting territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan and expressed confidence that the Alliance will continue its efforts in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution.

Sadikhov made the remarks while meeting the delegation led by the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), Commander of U.S. European Command, General Tod Wolters in Baku on February 6.

Touching upon the military-political situation in the region, Sadikov recalled that Armenia occupies nearly 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally-recognized territories and that the negotiations have yielded no results so far.  

He emphasized that the solution to this conflict is through compelling Armenia to fulfill the requirements of the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council on the basis of the norms and principles of international law.

Sadikov recalled the meeting held in Baku in July, 2019 and highlighted the development of NATO-Azerbaijan relations over the course of the past 26 years, the activities of the Azerbaijan Army in various programs and the contribution made by Azerbaijani servicemen to the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan.

He stressed that the main goal of Azerbaijan-NATO cooperation carried out in various fields is to eliminate instability, conflicts, and threats in the Euro-Atlantic area, as well as in the establishment of indivisible security system worldwide.

For his part, General T. Wolters noted that Azerbaijan is a reliable partner of Alliance and highly appreciated the participation of the country in the fight against terrorism, the significant contribution in providing airspace to cargo transportation for peacekeeping operations, including the high level of professionalism of Azerbaijani peacekeepers in Afghanistan.

Wolters stressed that the Alliance is in favor of a peaceful solution to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.