Azernews.Az

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Head of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Azerbaijani Community Tural Ganjaliyev has said that Armenia constantly creates obstacles to the peaceful resolution of the conflict using provocative statements during negotiations.

"Despite the fact that the concept of 'people of Karabakh', which has no foundation, and this has been repeatedly clarified, Armenia continues to raise this issue repeatedly, demonstrating its destructive position,'' Ganjaliyev said.

Ganjaliyev made the remarks on February 4, commenting on the recent statement of the Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Anna Naghdalyan issued on Armenian Foreign Ministry’s website on January 31.

He noted that Armenia ignores the opinion of the international community, thereby becoming the object of condemnation.

"Immediately after the negotiations held between the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Geneva through the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group on January 28-30, Naghdalyan expressed a provocative opinion about bringing 'elected representatives of the Karabakh people' to the peace process, thus tried to cast a shadow over the negotiations," Ganjaliyev mentioned.

He further said that such statements will not succeed in preventing peaceful coexistence of the Azerbaijani and Armenian communities of Nagorno-Karabakh within the internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan.

"We will return to our lands, restore our violated rights and destroyed heritage," he emphasized.

As Ganjaliyev noted, the Community was convinced of the firmness of the position that the population of Nagorno-Karabakh consists of Azerbaijani and Armenian communities, which is reflected in last year's statements by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs and in a statement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during his last visit to Baku.

"This issue is enshrined in the document of OSCE (previously CSCE) of 24 March 1992," he added.

He recalled that the most significant answer to the ruling circles of Armenia in this matter was given last year by the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev at the session of the Valdai International Discussion Club in Sochi, who said that the 'concept of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh' does not exist, there's only population of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Baku strengthens the role of Karabakh’s Azerbaijani community and wants to ensure equal access to negotiations of the Armenian and Azerbaijani communities in the region.

The Azerbaijani community, which as a result of ethnic cleansing was forced to leave their homes, has the legal right to participate in determining the future legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh. Without the recognition of this right, a comprehensive and fair settlement of the conflict cannot be achieved.

Nagorno-Karabakh is Azerbaijan’s breakaway region which along with seven adjacent regions was occupied by Armenian forces in a war in the early 1990s. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and around one million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. To this day, Armenia has not implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

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