"Azerbaijan will never put up with violation of its territorial integrity"

Azerbaijan is ready to provide the high degree of autonomy to Nagorno-Karabakh, but it is possible only within the territorial integrity of our state, the Azerbaijani Ambassador to Sweden, Rafael Ibrahimov said Tuesday at the lecture on tragic events in Khojali.

"Azerbaijan will never agree with the violation of its territorial integrity. We will make every effort to reach the peaceful settlement of the conflict while the possibility to negotiate exists", Ibragimov said, speaking to the students at the University of Linköping.

The two-hour lecture of Azerbaijani diplomat was devoted to the Khojaly genocide, committed by Armenian armed forces in 1992. The Ambassador told about the history of origin of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory by Armenia, which resulted in mass ethnic cleansings and the flow of Azerbaijani refugees.

According to him, Azerbaijan is the central energy and economic partner in the region for today and it maintains good relations with all its neighbours except Armenia.

"We can not cooperate with a country that occupied 20% of our territory. As long as the conflict remains unresolved, Armenia isnt going to have any benefits, because it deprived of the opportunity to participate in regional economic projects," Ibragimov said.

Participants were also handed out leaflets informing about the "Justice for Khojaly" campaign.

A protest action of Azerbaijanis living in Sweden in memory of victims of Khojaly genocide will be held at the central square of Stockholm on February 26.


/Trend/