AZERBAIJAN TO STRUGGLE UNTIL LIBERATION OF ITS OCCUPIED TERRITORY: SENIOR STATE OFFICIAL
Trend News Agency
Nov 20 2008
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan, Baku, 20 November /TrendNews corr. I.Alizade/ Baku
stated that Azerbaijan would struggle until the liberation of the
Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven regions attached to it from the
Armenian occupation. "Nagorno-Karabakh and seven regions attached
to it are the Azerbaijani territory, we will struggle and act to
liberate these occupied territories and this is the major position of
the Azerbaijani authorities," Elnur Aslanov, head of the Political
Analysis and Dataware Department of the Azerbaijani President’s
Administration, told journalists on 20 November.
The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in
1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. 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 negotiations.
The Armenian media claims that Yerevan will return five Azerbaijani
occupied regions at the first stage, the referendum will be held
to determine status of Nagorno-Karabakh in two years and finally,
Armenia will return Kalbajar region to Azerbaijan.
Both Nagorno-Karabakh and its seven surrounding regions are the
Azerbaijani territories and will be the Azerbaijani territories in
future, as well, the official of the President’s Administration said.
Serzh Sargsyan, the Armenian President, will discuss the current
situation on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement with leader of
political parties of the country.
"Discussions on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement were held at the
Azerbaijani Parliament several years ago. At present we do not need
to hold such a discussion," Aslanov said.