[Armenian News note: the below is translated from the Russian edition of APA]
Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has said that Azerbaijan is ready to contribute to lasting resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the APA news agency reported on 19 May.
"As always, Azerbaijan is ready to contribute to a fair resolution of the Palestinian issue. We reiterate our solidarity and support for a fair and comprehensive resolution of the Palestinian issue. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict must be resolved peacefully based on a 'two states principle', recognising West Jerusalem as capital of Palestine," Mammadyarov was quoted as saying while addressing a meeting of the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul on 18 May.
He urged the OIC to step up its efforts to "put an end to and condemn bloodshed".
Mammadyarov said that US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the relocation of the US embassy came at odds with international law. "This step taken despite numerous warnings has shattered hopes of reaching a fair and lasting resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and opened up a way for a humanitarian disaster," he said.
Mammadyarov also lambasted Armenia's role in the Karabakh conflict.
"Despite the UN Security Council resolutions and decisions taken by a number of international organisations, including OIC, Armenia has been holding 20 per cent of our territories under occupation for 25 years, leading to terrible humanitarian outcomes for the local Muslims and Islamic culture," he said.
Armenia and Azerbaijan are locked in a conflict over Azerbaijan's breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, which, along with seven surrounding districts, came under the control of Armenian troops in the early 1990s. Dozens of Azerbaijani and Armenian soldiers were killed during an outbreak of fighting between the two sides in April 2016, the worst escalation since cease-fire deal was signed in 1994. Peace talks between Baku and Yerevan have been mediated by France, Russia and the United States, in their capacity of co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.