Today.Az - Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan expressed its deep resentment over the position taken by the Co-Chairmen countries that voted against General Assembly resolution

Today.Az » Politics » Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan expressed its deep resentment over the position taken by the Co-Chairmen countries that voted against General Assembly resolution

14 March 2008 [21:57] - Today.Az

Ministry of Foreign Affairs would like to emphasize the utmost importance of the resolution, which the General Assembly, despite the efforts of some Member States, has adopted.

The resolution demonstrates that the international community firmly stands for settlement of the conflict on the basis of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

The resolution is timely and constructive since it stands for the balance based on the norms and principles of international law.

It provides the population of the Nagorno-Karabakh region with a possibility for self-rule within territorial integrity of the state that it is part of.

It reaffirms the right of displaced population to return to their places of origin.

It demands the withdrawal of the occupying forces from all occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

It supports the mediation efforts carried out on the basis of norms and principles of international law.

The resolution makes it clear for Armenia and for those behind her that settlement of the conflict could be achieved only on the basis of territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Until the Armenian side realizes this, the settlement cannot be achieved.

The Armenian side and those who support her must understand that negotiations may be continued only on the basis of norms and principles of international law.

The resolution provides a clear perspective for defining the Nagorno-Karabakh region status at the level envisaged by the international law, namely at the level of self-governance within territorial integrity of the state, and unambiguously indicated that this requires return of the displaced Azerbaijani population to the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

As Armenia continues to dictate its will proceeding from the fait accompli and tries to tear away the Nagorno-Karabakh region from Azerbaijan based on the results of the ethnic cleansing of the Azerbaijani population, she will not achieve peace with Azerbaijan.

Status of the Nagorno-Karabakh region may not be the subject of negotiations on the basis of fait accompli.

Status shall be defined only through legal and democratic process with participation of the entire population of the region within Azerbaijan. This requires creation of objective conditions such as relief of all territories from occupation, their rehabilitation and return of the population forcibly expelled from their places of origin.

We are surprised and express our deep resentment over the position taken by the Co-Chairmen countries that voted against this resolution, since the text was carefully drafted based on the concept of settlement they have repeatedly assured us to pursue.

Co-chairs refer to the draft paper on basic principles prepared by them, which allegedly constitute the basis for the settlement.

Azerbaijan must state that this draft contains more disagreements and unsettled issues, rather than clarity, and these issues by priority are of utmost importance.

We took note of the Co-chairs support to the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and would like to believe that they will follow their statement.

We also expect that the Co-chairs in their work on the draft of basic principles will take due regard of the position of international community expressed in the adopted resolution and prescribed in the international law, which shall serve as a basis for their activity.

We would like to stress that Azerbaijan will continue to be guided by the principles laid out in the adopted resolution in its work on the draft of basic principles.

We would like to express our gratitude for those countries, which voted in favor of our resolution and demonstrated principled and friendly support to Azerbaijan, and we will not forget that.

Likewise, we would not forget that a number of states didn’t find it possible to vote in favor of the resolution, which is of principled importance not only for Azerbaijan, but also for the international community, although we do understand that decision among those which chose to abstain in the voting was taken under pressure or due to remote geographic location.

We firmly reject and consider as trifling the position of those who voted against the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

Results of today voting will be thoroughly analyzed and taken due note of in the course of preparation of our campaign for mobilizing support to our resolution in the coming year.