Chief of Azerbaijani General Staff, NATO Gen. discuss Karabakh

Chief of Azerbaijani General Staff, NATO Gen. discuss Karabakh conflict

21:20 06 February 2020 Read: 1261

Azerbaijan’s First Deputy Defense Minister, Chief of the General Staff of Armed Forces, Colonel General Najmeddin Sadikov on Thursday met with a delegation led by NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), Commander of U.S. European Command, General Tod Wolters.

Recalling the meeting held in Baku last July, Sadikov noted the development of relations between Azerbaijan and NATO over the past 26 years, the activities of the Azerbaijan Army in various programs and the contribution Azerbaijan made to the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan, the Defense Ministry told AzVision.az.

He emphasized that the main goal of Azerbaijan-NATO cooperation carried out in various fields is to eliminate instability, conflicts, and threats in the Euro-Atlantic area, as well as in the establishment of indivisible security system in a worldwide scale.

Touching upon the military-political situation in the region, Sadikov recalled that Armenia occupies 20 percent of the territory of Azerbaijan that is recognized by the international community, and that the negotiation process remains to be ineffectual so far. He emphasized that the solution to this issue is to compel Armenia to fulfill the requirements of the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council on the basis of the norms and principles of international law.

He also highly appreciated NATO's position on the supporting territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan and expressed confidence that the Alliance will continue its efforts in this issue.

T. Wolters in turn, especially noting that Azerbaijan is a reliable partner of Alliance, highly appreciated the country’s participation in the fight against terrorism, the significant contribution in providing airspace to cargo transportation for peacekeeping operations, including the high level of professionalism of Azerbaijani peacekeepers in Afghanistan.

He stressed that the Alliance is in favor of a peaceful solution to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The NATO general expressed gratitude to the leadership of Azerbaijan for the warm welcome and hospitality, as well as for its assistance in holding the next meeting with the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in Baku.

During the meeting, the parties also exchanged views on other issues of mutual interest.