Community head says co-existence between Azerbaijanis, Armenians possible after occupation ends

  05 March 2020    Read: 1269
  Community head says co-existence between Azerbaijanis, Armenians possible after occupation ends

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu met with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs in Ankara a few days ago, Head of the Azerbaijani community of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan Tural Ganjaliyev said.

“During the meeting, the Turkish foreign minister called on the OSCE Minsk Group to work more actively towards the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” Ganjaliyev said.

“Mevlut Cavusoglu said that the conflict must be resolved within Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity,” Ganjaliyev said. “Following this meeting, by making unintelligible statements, the Armenian political circles showed negative attitude towards the meeting between the Turkish foreign minister and the co-chairs.”

“As the elected representative of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, I state that Turkey is one of the members of the OSCE Minsk Group and it is not surprising that a meeting was held between the Turkish foreign minister and the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs,” head of the Azerbaijani community of the Nagorno-Karabakh region said.

“By making a significant contribution to security and progress both at the international and regional levels, Turkey is extremely interested in resolving conflicts," Ganjaliyev said.

“The panic in the Armenian political circles that arose after the abovementioned meeting, in fact, shows that they are not interested in resolving the conflict and are trying to continue following aggressive policy,” Ganjaliyev said.

"The destructive position of the political circles of Armenia is directed against the settlement of the conflict, the termination of occupation and the establishment of peace in the region,” Ganjaliyev said.

“As the elected representative of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, I reiterate that the only obstacle to the peaceful coexistence of both communities is the presence of the Armenian armed forces on the Azerbaijani lands,” head of the Azerbaijani community of the Nagorno-Karabakh region said.

“After the Armenian armed forces are withdrawn from the Azerbaijani lands and the Azerbaijani population returns to its lands, there will be no problems for its peaceful co-existence with the Armenian community within the internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan," Ganjaliyev said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts.


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