Karabakh's Azerbaijani community: Armenia aims to change format of negotiations

By Azernews

By Akbar Mammadov

Head of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Azerbaijani community Tural Ganjaliyev has said that Armenia is trying to change the format of the current negotiations and seeks to annex occupied Azerbaijani territories.  

“In order to cover up the fact of occupation and evade responsibility for the crimes committed, Yerevan presents the Armenian community of the Nagorno-Karabakh region as a "party" to the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. These attempts completely contradict the format of negotiations established in the relevant OSCE documents,” Ganjaliyev said in an interview with Spanish newspaper “Style International”.

The head of the community pointed out that they have repeatedly offered dialogue to the Armenian community in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. “Unfortunately, our proposals have always been rejected,” Ganjaliyev said.

Ganjaliyev emphasized that this clearly proves that Armenia is not interested in negotiations and peace.

He also added that Armenia's goal is to stop the negotiation process and annex the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

“Armenia must withdraw its armed forces from the occupied Azerbaijani lands and ensure the return of more than one million IDPs to their homes. The conflict can be resolved only within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.”

“We, the Azerbaijani community of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, are ready to live together with the Armenian community of the region within the internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan," Ganjaliyev stressed.

The head of the community also touched upon the illegal settlement policy pursued by Armenia.

Ganjaliyev noted that Armenia pursues a policy of illegal settlement in order to change the demographic composition of the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. Thus, he said that this is a gross violation of international humanitarian law, including the 1949 Geneva Conventions.

“Armenia settles ethnic Armenians from Syria and Lebanon in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, thus deliberately destroying cultural and historical monuments belonging to Azerbaijanis,” he added.

In the article, Ganjaliyev said that in order to cover up the occupation of Azerbaijani territories, Armenia claims that the Armenian community living in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region is based on the principle of "self-determination".

“Armenia has established a puppet regime in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan,” he said.

Additionally, Ganjaliyev underlined that in recent years, Armenia has intensified its illegal activities in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan to strengthen the consequences of the occupation.

“Inspired by the indifference of the international community, Armenia has resorted to numerous provocations over the years to further expand the occupation of Azerbaijani territories. The last sabotage attempts were made in April 2016 and July 2020.”

The head of the community pointed out that Armenian Defense Minister threatens Azerbaijan with "new war for new territories" and added that Armenian Prime Minister's wife Anna Hakobyan has recently organized military exercises for Armenian women in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

“What does the ‘peace-loving’ wife of the ‘peace-loving’ Prime Minister of Armenia, dressed in a military uniform, do in the territory of another country?", Ganjaliyev said.

Armenia has started military training for women in occupied territories of Azerbaijan to prepare them for military combats and operations. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s wife Anna Hakobyan initiated and participated in military training for fifteen civil women in one of the Armenian military units in the occupied Karabakh region of Azerbaijan from 25 August to 31. The military training involved women spend the night in the military unit, master different types of weapons and fire training.