By Azernews

By Akbar Mammadov

Azerbaijan supports the peaceful settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir issue in accordance with international law and relevant UNSC resolutions, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said at the online meeting of the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir on June 22.

“As a responsible member of the international community, Azerbaijan supports the peaceful settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir issue in accordance with the norms and principles of international law and relevant UN Security Council resolutions, as well as with full respect for international humanitarian law.”

Mammadyarov noted that as a result, there is a clear need to continue efforts that will lead to a lasting solution. He also added that the peaceful settlement of all unresolved issues related to Jammu and Kashmir is of particular importance in terms of ensuring peace and security in the wider South Asian region.

“As a member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir, Azerbaijan considers this format to be an important and useful mechanism for reviewing the implementation of the OIC member states' obligations under the relevant OIC decisions”, the minister said.

In this regard, the minister stressed that Azerbaijan will confidently continue to take an active part in the work of the Contact Group.

During the meeting, Mammadyarov also touched upon the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“As is known, as a result of the Armenian military aggression, 20 percent of the territory of Azerbaijan, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions, has been occupied, and more than one million people have become refugees and internally displaced persons”.

Furthermore, he reminded that numerous historical, cultural and religious monuments in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, including many works on Azerbaijani history and Islamic heritage, had been savagely destroyed.

“Although the Azerbaijani government remains committed to the peaceful settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on the basis of relevant UN Security Council and OIC resolutions, Azerbaijan retains the legal right to use all means necessary to fully restore its territorial integrity and sovereignty”, the minister noted.

In his speech, Mammadyarov emphasized that in the difficult conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic, the international community must be prepared to resist the efforts of those who want to use the current state of international relations to further strengthen the consequences of aggression and occupation.

“In this regard, unity and joint action within the OIC are very important in strengthening our solidarity, and thus increase our joint efforts to reduce the serious damage caused by the pandemic and to maintain international peace and security”, he concluded.

It should be noted that Azerbaijan became a full member of the OIC at the fifth Conference of the Heads of State and Government on December 8, 1991 in Dakar. 

In September 1992, the final document of regular meeting of the OIC foreign ministers in the framework of the session of the UN General Assembly included a relevant paragraph on the “Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict". A resolution on "Conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan" was adopted at the XXI Conference of Foreign Ministers of the OIC member countries in Karachi in April 1993.