He said that upholding the principles of international law and rule-based global order is the best way to tackle challenges and remove security bottlenecks across the region.

“10 years ago in Prague, we adopted Joint Declaration giving birth to EaP. There, we unanimously agreed that EaP would be based on commitments to the principles of international law. We cannot afford tolerating anymore of occupation and abuse of the core principles of EaP. Armenia not only maintains the occupation of territories of Azerbaijan, but both in words and deeds derails the process and sabotages the efforts of finding the soonest peaceful settlement of the conflict. İn 2013, European Parliament adopted the resolution on European Neighbourhood Policy, which prescribes that “the occupation by one country of EaP of the territories of another violates the fundamental principles and objectives of EaP and that the resolution of Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno Karabakh conflict should comply with UN Security Council Resolutions 822, 853, 874, 884 of 1993. Moreover, in its annual implementation reports of Common Foreign and Security Policy the EP consistently reiterates the EU’s commitment to the territorial integrity of all EaP countries within its internationally recognized borders. So, if the agenda of the next decade of EaP doesn’t have a strong security component, there will be less of value-added in the process for Azerbaijan," Mammadyarov 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, 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 Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

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