President Aliyev urges timeframe for withdrawal of Armenian troops

By Azernews

By Aisha Jabbarova

President Ilham Aliyev has said that in line with the UN Security Council resolution 853, updated timetable for withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from Azerbaijan’s occupied territories must be prepared.

Alieyev made the remarks while addressing the general debates of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly in a video format, Azertag reported on September 25.

“Appropriate UN institutions must contribute to the implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions and return of Azerbaijani internally displaced persons to their native lands. The UN Security Council resolutions are not time-specific. These resolutions are valid until they are implemented. Misinterpretation of UN Security Council resolutions is unacceptable,” Aliyev said.

Fruitless negotiations 

Aliyev reminded that the work of the OSCE Minsk Group that has been meditating the negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia has not yielded any results, stressing that “negotiations must not be conducted just for the sake of negotiations, they must be target-oriented and meaningful.”

“Presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chair countries – France, Russia, United States - in their statements stressed that the status-quo is unacceptable. We welcome these statements, but statements are not enough. We need actions.

“Our involvement in the negotiation process for almost 30 years is a clear demonstration of our commitment to peace. All 11 members of Minsk Group should be actively involved in the process,” Aliyev said.

The president underlined that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must be resolved on the basis of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

“Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity has never been and will never be a subject of negotiations. The sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan must be completely restored. Nagorno-Karabakh is ancient and historical Azerbaijani lands. Karabakh is Azerbaijan!” the president said.

Arms supply to Armenia

The president also expressed concerns over increased arms supply to Armenia, especially right after Armenia’s military provocation on border Tovuz region in July.

"Active military clashes at the state border stopped on July 16. Next day starting from July 17 until September, we witnessed delivery of more than one thousand tons of military equipment to Armenia by military cargo planes. Taking into account that Armenia is one of the poorest countries of the world and can not afford paying for weapons billions of US dollars, we assume that it gets weapons free of charge,” Aliyev said.

The president urged all countries to refrain from supplying arms to Armenia.

“Supply of weapons to an aggressor and a country that perpetrated ethnic cleansing significantly undermines the peace negotiations and encourage the occupying state to instigate new military provocations.”