APA, Azerbaijan
June 23 2017
Azerbaijan president calls to sanction Armenia
[Armenian News note: the below is translated from the Russian edition of APA]
23 June: "Azerbaijan's position on regulating the Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict over [Azerbaijan's breakaway] Nagorno-Karabakh is clear to
society. We have voiced our position on a number of occasions. This
conflict must be solved within the context of territorial integrity of
our country on the basis of the norms and principles of international
law. There is no other alternative. Nagorno-Karabakh is Azerbaijan's
indigenous territory. Our people have lived on the territory for
centuries. All place-names and historic monuments [there] reflect
Azerbaijan's history."
According to the Apa [news agency], this is what Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev said at the opening ceremony of the plant of revolving
grenade fitting elements in [the city of] Shirvan.
The head of state emphasised that international community also
recognised Nagorno-Karabakh as an integral part of Azerbaijan.
"All leading international organisations have made decisions on the
issue, adopting resolutions, according to which the Armenian Armed
Forces ought to immediately and unconditionally leave the occupied
territories. However, Armenia chooses not to implement them.
Regrettably, no serious measures have been used against this country.
International sanctions should have been imposed on Armenia long ago.
The thing is that this country occupied the territory of another
country in the 21st century, carrying out genocide of its people,
destroying all its historic monuments. The ruined village of Cocuq
Marcanli is a clear example of this. The situation is similar in all
occupied territories.
"International law strengthens our position, which is historically
correct. The so-called referendum, which was recently held in
Nagorno-Karabakh, failed to receive recognition by any international
structure, neighbour countries, the EU, or the OSCE Minsk Group
co-chair countries. In other words, choosing not to recognise the
referendum, all international structures and countries once again
confirmed that Nagorno-Karabakh is Azerbaijan's territory.
International community does not recognise the fictitious separatist
regime of the junta and it will never do so. Therefore, historic
justice and international law are on our side and our political weight
is certainly incomparably greater than that of Armenia. In other
words, all these factors strengthen our position. Certainly, the
Azerbaijani state should further strengthen its position and it is
strengthening its principled position. Once again, I would like to
reiterate that we live in conditions of war. Our people will never
accept the existing situation.
"We will never allow the creation of a second Armenian state on our
historic territories. We are going to restore our territorial
integrity. Recent developments and strengthening of our country offer
us greater opportunities for settling the issue.
"Indeed, to achieve our goal, we need to become even stronger. At
present, the factor of power is playing a leading role all over the
world, which is unfortunate. Indeed, international law is also
extremely important, as it creates a legal basis for the conflict.
However, it is the factor of power that plays the main role. We see
that in different parts of the world, international law is offended
and treaded down, being interpreted differently. Using the factor of
power makes it possible to change the real situation. This is not our
choice. However, we, too, live in the real world. We need to be strong
to achieve our goal. Work is being carried out in this direction," the
president emphasised.
