TODAY.AZ / Politics

Azerbaijan does its best to overcome consequences of humanitarian catastrophe caused by Armenia

24 May 2016 [13:15] - TODAY.AZ

/By Azernews/

By Gulgiz Dadashova

Azerbaijan does its best to overcome the consequences of humanitarian catastrophe caused by Armenia, said President Ilham Aliyev warning the world about the Armenian aggression against its neighbor.

President Aliyev drew the attention of the international community to the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict while addressing the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, Turkey.

Global leaders met in Istanbul on May 23 to tackle a "broken" humanitarian system that has left 130 million people in need of aid. Co-organized by Turkey and the UN, the first ever Summit brought together a total of more than 5,000 delegates including up to 60 UN member states' heads of state and government, officials of the crisis-affected countries, representatives of international organizations, NGOs and the private sector.

In his speech to the plenary session of the Summit, President Aliyev stated that Azerbaijanis know very well what it is like to be refugees and internally displaced persons.

“As a result of Armenian aggression, 20 percent of our internationally recognized territories is under occupation, more than one million of Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced persons,” he said.

Armenia also committed ethnic cleansing and genocide against Azerbaijanis, the president told the gathering of 150 countries, including 57 heads of government.

“Khojaly genocide committed by Armenia in 1992 is recognized by more than 10 countries. As a result of Khojaly genocide 613 civilians were brutally killed, among them 106 women, 63 children and 70 elderly. More than one thousand people are missing,” he added.

President Aliyev pointed out that Armenia continues its policy of aggression against Azerbaijan. The head of state cited as an example the recent hostilities on the contact line of troops, which were considered as the “most serious” since two decades of ceasefire between Azerbaijan and Armenia in 1994.

“In April 2016, Armenia launched new attack on peaceful Azerbaijani citizens. As a result of this attack our soldiers and officers, as well as six civilians were killed. More than 30 civilians were wounded. As a result of the shelling of our citizens and villages more than 500 houses were damaged, more than 100 houses were completely destroyed and burned,” the president said, adding that Armenian army used prohibited chemical weapons against civilians, particularly white phosphorus bomb.

Noting that all the war crimes committed by Armenia are documented and presented to international monitors, the resident reminded that Armenia is ignoring four United Nations Security Council resolutions demanding immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian troops from the territory of Azerbaijan.

“Nagorno-Karabakh and seven other districts of Azerbaijan are occupied. In some cases United Nations Security Council resolutions are implemented within days if not hours. But in our case they remained on paper for more than twenty years. This is a policy of double standards towards Azerbaijan. Armenia must implement these resolutions or be sanctioned. Territorial integrity of Azerbaijan must be restored,” he stated.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions.

While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign State with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years.

President Aliyev voiced that another serious threat to the whole region is an outdated Armenian nuclear power plant in Metsamor. “There is information that Armenia is illegally using the radioactive waste. Former prime minister, member of parliament and other officials of Armenia declared this April that Armenia has a nuclear weapon, so-called dirty bomb,” he said, urging relevant international organizations to thoroughly examine this statement.

President Aliyev emphasized that Armenian nuclear threat and blackmail must be stopped.

The head of state further informed about the works done to improve living conditions of our refugees and IDPs, noting that more than $6 billion were spent for this.

“The level of poverty among refugees and IDPs dropped from 75 to 12 percent. In general, poverty level in Azerbaijan dropped from almost 50 to 5 percent in the last 12 years,” he added.

The president stated that Azerbaijan provides and will continue to provide assistance to countries suffering from similar problems.

“We provided financial assistance to support United Nations Ebola response and recovery actions. We are also committed to promoting cooperation among relevant institutions and stakeholders for ensuring access of population to early warning system and disaster-risk information,” he noted.

The president voiced belief that the results of the summit will contribute to the improvement of the living standards of the people who suffer from humanitarian crisis.

Addressing the summit aiming to develop a better response to what has called the worst humanitarian crisis since World War Two, mobilize more funds and agree to better care for displaced civilians, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on governments, businesses and aid groups to commit to halving the number of displaced civilians by 2030.

"We need to improve more direct funding to local communities and fix the persistent humanitarian funding gap," he said in a speech. “"We are here to shape a different future.”

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, which is saddled with around 3 million refugees from neighboring Syria's civil war, stated that international community should make efforts to resolve armed conflicts.

Turkey is one of the countries actively helping Syrian refugees, added Erdogan.

"Turkey has spent $10 billion to upkeep the Syrian refugees, and there are three million Syrian refugees in the country," he said, noting that while the international community has allocated only $455 million for the Syrian refugees.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in turn, said there needed to be improvements in how humanitarian aid is delivered.

She further said that Germany will make more funds available humanitarian assistance and aid. "We need crisis, emergency and response facilities that are well funded," Merkel said.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/politics/151027.html

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