By Trend

The visit by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to Azerbaijan’s Shusha city on the occasion of the 27th anniversary of its occupation contradicts international norms and impedes the peaceful settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijani MP Tahir Rzayev told Trend.

He noted that Pashinyan and the former leadership of Armenia repeatedly violated these norms by visiting the occupied Azerbaijani territories.

“This is common practice for them, and a kind of means for gaining an image among the Armenian people,” he said. “Since 1988, those who have been in power in Armenia managed to retain their posts precisely because of these nationalistic ideas and occupation activities. Pashinyan follows the same path. Unfortunately, the international structures, in particular, the OSCE Minsk Group, do not express serious concern over illegal visits to the region, which is under Armenian occupation. Moreover, this indifference delays the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and creates conditions for the violation of stability in the region and start of a large-scale war in the future.”

Rzayev stressed that international organizations should take an irreconcilable attitude towards such cases in order to avoid escalation of the conflict.

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.