Mehriban Aliyeva: Nagorno-Karabakh is integral part of Azerbaijan

By  Trend

First Vice-President of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva met with participants of a meeting of the Council of Interior Ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Expressing satisfaction with the organization of the meeting of the CIS Council of Interior Ministers in Azerbaijan, Mehriban Aliyeva noted that the country is already hosting the fifth meeting of the Council.

Mehriban Aliyeva stressed that Azerbaijan is one of the active members of the CIS and its major position is to develop comprehensive cooperation in various spheres, including socio-political, economic, humanitarian, and security ones.

She noted that the CIS Council of Interior Ministers fulfills a very important task to ensure normal and peaceful life of citizens.

“Stability, public order, the rule of law are one of the main conditions for the development of the state,” she said, stressing that Azerbaijan attaches great importance to the work of the Council.

Azerbaijan contributes to ensuring security of the region, she stressed.

Applauding the fact that the country has low crime rate, high disclosure of the majority of crimes, a 30 percent reduction in the number of serious and grave crimes, Mehriban Aliyeva voiced her confidence that the Council’s activity will contribute to strengthening these tendencies in future.

Describing the Council as an excellent platform for building very effective cooperation in such areas as exchange of operational information, minimizing risks, combating organized crime, drug trafficking, terrorism, and extremism, Mehriban Aliyeva stressed the need for cooperation in effective combat of new threats and challenges posed by globalization.

Later on First VP Aliyeva welcomed Secretary General of Interpol Jurgen Stock to Azerbaijan and congratulated him on his appointment to this important post. She expressed confidence that Interpol will continue to support security in the region in future.

Mehriban Aliyeva drew Stock’s attention to the facts of illegal economic activity of a number of foreign companies in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“For now there have been revealed 177 foreign legal entities realizing illegal economic activity in Azerbaijan’s occupied territories,” she said. “Besides, 710 foreign citizens visited the occupied territories.”

Mehriban Aliyeva stated that Nagorno-Karabakh is an integral part of Azerbaijan, and the entire world recognizes the country’s territorial integrity.

Therefore, these actions are a grave violation of Azerbaijan’s legislation, she said.

At the same time, there have been facts in recent years about the use of these territories for the cultivation and subsequent trafficking of drugs, which also causes great concern, Mehriban Aliyeva noted.

These actions both by foreign companies and individuals are a gross violation of Azerbaijan’s legislation, and the Azerbaijani state is taking and will take all legal measures to stop and prevent these actions, she added.

Of course, in this regard, Azerbaijan relies on the support of Interpol a lot, she said.

Mehriban Aliyeva thanked Jurgen Stock for sharing his experience, for the joint work with Azerbaijan, and expressed confidence that the successful cooperation will continue in the future.

Mehriban Aliyeva once again noted that Azerbaijan appreciates the work of the CIS Council of Interior Ministers and wished success to its activities.

Russian Interior Minister and Chairman of the CIS Council of Interior Ministers Vladimir Kolokoltsev noted that the meeting discussed many important issues and took important decisions.

Stressing the importance of joint efforts, Vladimir Kolokoltsev noted that these decisions are aimed at ensuring security of citizens.