Armenia is trying to recruit mercenaries and terrorists from various hot sports around the world to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan under the guise of “volunteers,” Azerbaijani Defense Minister, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov said.

He made the remarks during the meeting with a delegation led by Herbert Salber, EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia, in Baku Apr. 15.

During the meeting, the sides discussed the recent hostilities on the line of contact between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops.

Hasanov mentioned the fact that Azerbaijani residential areas and civilians were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side on April 2.

The minister noted that Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territories have been under occupation for more than two decades now, in the wake of which more than a million Azerbaijanis left their homes.

He also recalled that the negotiations process has failed to produce any visible result.

The UN Security Council passed four resolutions demanding the unconditional withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories, while the Armenian government has been ignoring the justified requirements of the international community and continues to maintain the status quo, according to Hasanov.

“We do know that the enemy is in big trouble after receiving a crushing blow from the Azerbaijani side. Therefore, Armenia is trying to recruit mercenaries and terrorists from various hot sports around the world to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan under the guise of “volunteers,” he added.

Yerevan, in spite of everything, is openly collaborating with terrorist organizations and has elevated this relationship to the level of state policy, Hasanov noted, urging the world community and international organizations to give a fair assessment of this matter. “Otherwise, as stated by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, our Armed Forces will never reconcile with the occupation of our territories and surely to perform the sacred duty to liberate our lands,” he emphasized.

Azerbaijan’s Deputy Prosecutor General, Military Prosecutor, Lieutenant-General of Justice Khanlar Valiyev also attended the meeting.

Valiyev presented to the EU delegation the evidence that those who are in power in Armenia were directly involved in the occupation of Azerbaijani lands and grave crimes committed there, Armenian armed forces shelled Azerbaijani civilians during the recent hostilities and numerous signs of torture were detected on the bodies of the dead Azerbaijani soldiers handed over by Armenia.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict entered its modern phase when the Armenian SRR made territorial claims against the Azerbaijani SSR in 1988.

A fierce war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. As a result of the war, Armenian armed forces occupied some 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory which includes Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts (Lachin, Kalbajar, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Gubadli and Zangilan), and over a million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced people.

The military operations finally came to an end when Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in Bishkek in 1994.

Dealing with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the OSCE Minsk Group, which was created after the meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Helsinki on 24 March 1992. The Group’s members include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, the United States, France, Poland, Germany, Turkey, Belarus, Finland and Sweden.

Besides, the OSCE Minsk Group has a co-chairmanship institution, comprised of Russian, US and French co-chairs, which began operating in 1996.

Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 of the UN Security Council, which were passed in short intervals in 1993, and other resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly, PACE, OSCE, OIC, and other organizations require Armenia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh.

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