On 8th of May, 1992 the Armenian armed forces occupied historical and ancient
city Shusha, Azerbaijani–populated administrative centre within Nagorno
Karabakh region of the Republic of Azerbaijan. 24,900 people lived in the city
Shusha having 289 square kilometres of area before the invasion. As a result of
military invasion 195 fellow countrymen became martyrs, 165 were wounded and
58 were taken hostage. Armenian vandals plundered museums having thousands of
exhibits, destroyed hundreds of historical-cultural monuments, desecrated holy
temples and mosques, annihilated numerous unique manuscripts and ruined
educational and health facilities during the invasion of the city.

Since the early days of independence the Republic of Azerbaijan faced aggressive
policy of neighbouring Armenia aimed to annexe the integral part of Azerbaijan -
Nagorno Karabakh region. Following the military aggression of Armenia, its
armed forces occupied and implemented ethnic cleansing policy in Nagorno
Karabakh and six adjusted districts which totally makes around twenty percent of
Azerbaijani territories, more than one million Azerbaijanis forcibly left their
houses becoming refugees and IDPs.

Position of the Republic of Azerbaijan over the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijan
Nagorno Karabakh conflict has remained unchanged from the first days of conflict
resolution talks. Azerbaijan sees no other option but withdrawal of the Armenian
armed forces from all the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, restoration of the
sovereign rights of Azerbaijan in these territories, return of the forcibly displaced
population to their places of origin, establishment of conditions for restoring the
communications and socio-economic growth of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of
Azerbaijan within the overall economic development of the country and
elaboration of legal status in the framework of a lawful and democratic process,
which would ensure the peaceful coexistence of the Azerbaijani and Armenian
communities of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its autonomy within the
Republic of Azerbaijan.

The legal and political grounds for the settlement of the conflict are based upon the
norms and principles of international law as enshrined in the UN Charter,
Helsinki Final Act, United Nations Security Council resolutions 822, 853, 874,
and 884, resolution A/RES/62/243 of the UN General Assembly adopted in 2008,
as well as documents and decisions of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe. All these documents

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