Yerevan fails in holding “independence anniversary” of Nagorno-Karabakh [UPDATE]

By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

The conference to be organized by Armenia under the pretext of ‘the 25th anniversary of independence’ of the separatist regime established in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan has been cancelled, said Hikmat Hajiyev, spokesman to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

“Armenia together with the Center of Political and Foreign Affairs was planning to organize a conference on September 2-3 in Yerevan under the pretext of 'the 25th anniversary of independence' of the separatist regime established in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan for provocative purposes,” Hajiyev told Trend on August 31.

Former statesmen, MPs and civil society representatives were supposed to attend the event. It was also planned to organize a trip to Azerbaijani occupied territories for them. However, Chairman of the Center of Political and Foreign Affairs Fabian Baussart made a statement about cancellation of the initiative, Hajiyev said.

Earlier, the Azerbaijani side issued  a statement urging persons invited to the conference to respect the rules and principles of international law, refrain from illegal visit to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and from participation in that forum, which obviously pursues provocative purposes.

Diplomatic missions of Azerbaijan abroad, particularly in France and the UK, conducted explanatory work with people invited to the conference and told them that holding of such an event harms the negotiation process over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement.

Many of the invited persons, taking into account the sensitivity of the situation in the region, refused to participate, Hajiyev said.

Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan laying territorial claims on its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.