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Azerbaijan says Armenia unreasonably delays return of soldierâ€™s corpse

31 December 2016 09:25 (UTC +04:00)

Armenian authorities have officially confirmed that the dead body of Azerbaijani soldier Chingiz Gurbanov is on the Armenian side, the State Commission of Azerbaijan on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons told APA that on Saturday.

The concerned international organizations have been informed and the necessary steps are being taken, according to the commission.

The State Commission notes the bodies of soldiers killed during military clashes must be returned immediately once the combat operations are over, which is an undeniable principle of international law.

"Despite the fact that three days have passed since the incident, the Armenian side is unreasonably delaying the start of the process of returning the soldier’s body. Efforts are underway along with international organizations to get back the body of the Azerbaijani solider,” the commission said.

The public will be given additional information about the process, the commission added.

A reconnaissance group of the Armenian Armed Forces tried to violate the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border on Dec. 29 morning. The Armenian group found itself in the ambush of the Azerbaijani army while violating the borders.

The enemy was forced to retreat with losses, according to the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry's message. Azerbaijani soldier Chingiz Gurbanov was killed while preventing the attack and his corpse was taken to the Armenian side.

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.