OFFICIAL BAKU INSISTS ON PACE MISSION’S VISITING OCCUPIED LANDS THROUGH AZERBAIJAN
Trend News Agency
06.10.08 11:56
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan, Baku, 6 October/ TrendCapital, corr J. Babayeva/ Official
Baku insists on PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe)
mission’s visiting Azerbaijani lands occupied by Armenia through
Azerbaijan’s territory.
"Azerbaijan insists on PACE cultural heritage mission’s visiting
occupied lands through Azerbaijan’s territory as this territory is a
constituent part of Azerbaijan," Abulfaz Garayev, minister of culture
and tourism of Azerbaijan said to journalists.
Official Baku insists on simultaneous arrival of a mission in an
equal composition. This is indispensable condition of Azerbaijan,
minister said.
Azerbaijan has proposed PACE to send its cultural heritage mission
to the occupied lands to study the conditions of historical and
cultural monuments.
The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in
1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenia
has occupied 20% of Azerbaijan’s lands including Nagorno-Karabakh and
surrounding seven regions. The occupation began in 1988. Azerbaijan
lost the Nagorno-Karabakh, except of Shusha and Khojali, in December
1991. In 1992-93, Armenian Armed Forces occupied Shusha, Khojali and
Nagorno-Karabakh’s seven surrounding regions. In 1994, Azerbaijan
and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time the active
hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Russia,
France, and the US) are currently holding peaceful, but fruitless
negotiations.
Visiting region at different times can lead to distortion of facts,
he said.
Azerbaijan has already submitted the mission a list of monuments that
were subject to destruction. "Armenia offers a different list. There
are no facts of destruction of Armenian monuments in Azerbaijani
territory. We offer to study both lists," minister said.