AzVision.az presents the statement. 

"The people of Azerbaijan are angry. They have reason to be. They demand action. That is understandable, given that the “frozen conflict” of Nagorno-Karabakh has been revived by a breach to the ceasefire agreement. However, the course of practical wisdom is not best served by a response that could be used as an excuse by third parties to enter the conflict.

Nor for that matter is the cause of justice best advanced by taking arms, for the fog of war has a way of obscuring who was in the right and who was responsible for what. Azerbaijan has legal decisions in its favor, and the international community does not recognize the acquisition of territory by war. But youth is right to be impatient when these positions of principle are not leading to actions that would redress past injustices and restore and protect the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. Yet refusal to respond to provocation, insistence in pursuit of rights through diplomacy and legal means is invariably better.

Conflict is frequently indecisive, and invariably costly in blood as well as resources. This is the time to activate all possible diplomatic channels, including at the UN, and at the European Union, to call for an immediate ceasefire, and use every means available at the international level to prevent any further military action and to seek a peaceful settlement of that long-standing dispute.

To work for peace through peaceful means, and hopefully reach a lasting and peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh situation remains, as ever, the long-term solution and the means to restore the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan under international law. Peace, true peace, is more than the cessation of war.

It can only be built on justice and inclusion. But let us start with stopping the fighting and seeking collaboration and international cooperation to overcome the unjust legacies of the past and to address our global challenges. That would be an appropriate revival of the spirit of the United Nations on its 75th birthday."

Ismail Serageldin, Co-Chair NGIC, Vice-President of the World Bank 1992-2000

Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Co-Chair NGIC, President of Latvia 1999-2007

Rovshan Muradov, Secretary General Nizami Ganjavi International Center

More about: Nagorno-Karabakh