Baku. Malahat Najafova – APA. Armenia continues to violate international humanitarian law, said Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov.
He made the remarks during the presentation of the fourth periodic report on Azerbaijan’s implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which took place within the 118th session of the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva.
Khalafov noted that the continuation of the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh region by Armenia prevents Azerbaijan from fully fulfilling its human rights obligations in this territory.
He pointed out that Armenia has been continuing the occupation of Azerbaijani territories for 20 years, which means a flagrant violation of the norms and principles of international law.
“As a result of this occupation and ethnic cleansing, a million of Azerbaijani people became refugees and IDPs. Armenia grossly violated international humanitarian law, murdered civilians and committed the Khojaly genocide” added the deputy FM. “Despite all this, Azerbaijan stands a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within within its sovereignty, territorial integrity and internationally recognized borders.”
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict entered its modern phase when the Armenian SRR made territorial claims against the Azerbaijani SSR in 1988.
A fierce war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. As a result of the war, Armenian armed forces occupied some 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory which includes Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts (Lachin, Kalbajar, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Gubadli and Zangilan), and over a million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced people.
The military operations finally came to an end when Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in Bishkek in 1994.
Dealing with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the OSCE Minsk Group, which was created after the meeting of the CSCE (OSCE after the Budapest summit held in Dec.1994) Ministerial Council in Helsinki on 24 March 1992. The Group’s members include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belarus, Finland and Sweden.
Besides, the OSCE Minsk Group has a co-chairmanship institution, comprised of Russian, the US and French co-chairs, which began operating in 1996.
Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 of the UN Security Council, which were passed in short intervals in 1993, and other resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly, PACE, OSCE, OIC, and other organizations require Armenia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh.
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