Foreign

Home page

Foreign

Elmar Mammadyarov: â€œNo official or political status can give immunity to someone involved in the gravest international crimesâ€

13 February 2013 15:39 (UTC +04:00)

Baku – APA. “Armenia’s war against our country and military occupation of our territories have had a negative impact on civilians. As a result of the aggression, Azerbaijan has become one of the countries with the largest number of refugees and internally displaced persons,” said Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov addressing the UN open debate on “Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict”, the Foreign Ministry’s press service told APA.

Mammadyarov mentioned that one in every nine people in Azerbaijan fall under this category: “The unprecedented massacre was committed against Azerbaijanis in Khojaly town twenty years ago. More than 600 civilians were killed in this town in a night just because they were Azerbaijanis. The four resolutions adopted by the Security Council in 1993 on the occupation of Azerbaijan’s territories focused attention especially on the violation of humanitarian law, including expulsion of a number of civilians from their lands in Azerbaijan and attacks and bombing on the residential areas populated by civilians. We are sure that consecutive steps to be taken both on national and international level will bring to justice the perpetrators of the crimes committed against Azerbaijani civilians during the conflict. Today, no official or political status can give immunity to someone involved in the gravest international crimes, including military crimes, crimes against humanity, genocides and ethnic cleansing.

Elmar Mammadyarov said that all conflicts should be resolved basing on the international law: “Peace efforts and peace treaties do not encourage illegal use of force, flagrant violation of the international law, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide or ethnic cleansing. On the other hand, the lack of agreement on political issues in the state of protracted armed conflict can not be used as an excuse for the failure to solve the problems caused by persistent and deliberate violation of the international humanitarian law and human rights.”