Elmar Mammadyarov: Armenians alter demographic landscape of occupied Azerbaijani lands

By  Trend

Illegal economic and other activities in the occupied territories is a very important problem for the world community, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said at the 
"Illegality of Economic and Other Activities in and with Regard to Territories Under Military Occupation: Third-Party Obligations and Implications for Conflict Resolution" International Conference.

The minister noted that Armenians are artificially changing the demographic landscape in the occupied lands of Azerbaijan.

"The Armenian government has announced the resettlement of Syrian Armenians, which is a violation of a number of international conventions," Mammadyarov said.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Minister stressed that there are foreign companies illegally operating in some regions of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia.

"For example, the Swiss watchmaking company Franck Muller. There is also a factory there. We have managed to achieve the ceasing of the illegal activities of this company," he said.

Countries should not allow their companies to violate international law, as the minister noted.

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, in 1992 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 the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.