The June 13 visit of Armenian President Armen Sarkissian to Nagorno-Karabakh is illegal, Ali Ahmadov, Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister, Deputy Chairman of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party (YAP) Ali Ahmadov said on Thursday, APA reports.
“The Armenian president’s visit to the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan is illegal, and he should be held accountable for his illegal action,” he said.
“This visit should also enrage the OSCE Minsk Group and should concern all states that are calling for the liberation of Azerbaijani territories. Otherwise, it will be difficult to find a way to resolve the conflict,” Ahmadov added.
The deputy PM stressed that Nagorno-Karabakh is unequivocally recognized as the territory of Azerbaijan under international law. “In this case, a visit to the occupied territories by a representative of another state without Azerbaijan’s consent is illegal. I hope that the time will come and those responsible for such illegal actions will have to answer,” he 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 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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