TODAY.AZ / Politics

Azerbaijani, Armenian NGOs need to actively engage in conflict resolution

30 September 2015 [14:54] - TODAY.AZ

By Sara Rajabova - AzerNews 

Azerbaijani official has called for greater participation by Azerbaijani and Armenian civil society institutes in the settlement process of the long-standing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

MP Azay Guliyev, the chairman of the Council of State Support to Non-Governmental Organizations under the President of Azerbaijan, said civil society organizations from Azerbaijan and Armenia must play a more active role in the solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

He told the dailykarabakh site that the activities of only state and government agencies and other political institutions are not sufficient to address issues related to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“This is the kind of problem where public pressure and public opinion are imperative. But how should it be done? This question is very crucial. What role can civil society institutions and NGOs play in the elimination of outcomes of the occupation policy pursued by Armenia? This question is also vital,” Guliyev said.

He went on to say that if Armenian NGOs truly want to contribute to helping find a solution to this problem without fear of government reprisal and oppression, then they must clearly tell the truth.

“And there is one truth: they must call upon the Armenian government to retract from the occupied Azerbaijani territories, stop its ethnic cleansing policy, create conditions for Azerbaijani IDPs to return to their native lands, and loudly say that this is the only way for long-lasting peace and peaceful coexistence. Admitting this truth and taking specific steps in this regard is very important for the future of the region,” Guliyev underlined.

Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions from Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly one million were displaced as a result of the war.

Large-scale hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire in 1994, but Armenia continued the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal.

Peace talks mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. have produced no results so far.

Guliyev further said Armenian NGOs must admit that the Armenian people are taking the main brunt of the occupation policy pursued by the present-day fascist regime of Armenia and that the only reason the Armenian people live in extreme poverty, depravity, and are thus fleeing from their homeland is that the Armenian government pursues an occupant policy.

The occupant country has been in almost in isolation over the years for its aggressive policy and as a result has been sidelined from the large-scale international projects taking place in the region.

Armenia has been experiencing a harsh economic crisis for several years. With a recession in its main trading partner, Russia, the economic situation in the country is getting worse every passing day.

Over 30 percent of the population lives in poverty, while unemployment, inflation, and state debt are rising at an alarming rate. Every day, more and more people leave the country to escape the unbearable situation in Armenia.

“Therefore, unless the civil society institutions of Armenia withdraw from justifying their government`s unlawful and criminal occupation policy and tell the truth, any cooperation with them would be meaningless," Guliyev said.

The occupant country uses every possible means to undermine the negotiation process and blocks all roads that could lead to the solution of the long-lasting conflict.

Despite repeated calls by the international community and Baku to contribute to meaningful dialogue between the two communities as a real confidence-building measure, Yerevan has obstructed meetings between the Azerbaijani and Armenian communities of Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region.

“Armenia, by all means, hinders contacts between the Azerbaijani and Armenian communities of Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region, while this could allow for building genuine trust,” Azerbaijani FM Elmar Mammadyarov recently said.

Instead of choosing integration with regional states and contributing to ensure peace and stability in the region, Yerevan continues to be a destabilize the sitiation in the South Caucasus.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/politics/144054.html

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