Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 3

By Elchin Mehdiyev – Trend:

Exchange of views on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict's settlement at the Tehran meeting was important for Azerbaijan, MP Hikmat Babaoglu told Trend Nov. 3.

"One of the most important things for Azerbaijan at the trilateral meeting of the Azerbaijani, Iranian and Russian presidents, held Nov. 1 in Tehran, was the exchange of views on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and, most importantly, the reflection of this issue in the final declaration of the meeting," Babaoglu said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

“The Tehran declaration says the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh issue is an obstacle to regional integration,” the MP noted. “It is also stressed that the issue should be resolved based on the decisions made so far on international level. This is an extremely important detail, as the resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council regarding the conflict’s settlement call for the withdrawal of Armenian occupation forces from Azerbaijan.”

The MP added that a number of important issues related to economy, transportation, combating terrorism and drug trafficking, and others were also discussed at the meeting.