Nagorno Garabagh

Home page

Nagorno Garabagh

President Ilham Aliyev: Armenia used chemical weapon against Azerbaijani population

23 May 2016 12:18 (UTC +04:00)

The head of state said Azerbaijan once faced the problem of refugees and IDPs, noting that in the wake of Armenian military invasion and aggression, 20 percent territory of Azerbaijan has been remaining under occupation for more than two decades now.

"More than one million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced persons," said the president. “Armenia carried out a policy of ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijan, a massacre against the population. The Khojaly genocide carried out by Armenian armed forces on 26 February 1992 has been recognized by more than 10 countries.”

President Aliyev mentioned that Armenian armed forces organized new attacks against Azerbaijani civilians in early April this year.

“Azerbaijani soldiers and military officers as well as six civilians were killed and about 30 civilians were wounded during the April attacks by Armenia,” he said stressing that Armenian armed forces used a prohibited chemical weapon—white phosphorus shell—against civilians.

The head of state added that Azerbaijani armed forces gave a fitting rebuff to Armenian units in defense of the civilians and repelled the attacks.

“Armenia continues the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven adjacent districts. Armenia still ignores to fulfill the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council,” said the president,” President Aliyev said.

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 OSCE 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, 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.