“The call for peace in Nagorno-Karabakh in the statement of Pope Francis in Yerevan is a call for an end to the illegal occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia, the withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from the occupied Azerbaijani territories, including Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region, the return of Azerbaijani refugees and IDPs, who were subjected to bloody ethnic cleansing, to their native lands and the resumption of peace and justice in the region,” Hajiyev stressed,” Hajiyev stressed.
According to him, due to the fact that the call was made by Pope Francis in Yerevan, it was addressed to Yerevan.
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, Italy, 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.
Baku hopes Yerevan will draw conclusion from peace call by Pope Francis
27 June 2016
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The call for peace in Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh in the statement of Pope Francis’ in Yerevan calls to end Armenia’s illegal occupation of Azerbaijani territories, complete withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from Azerbaijani territories, including from Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, as well as to return of Azerbaijani IDPs and refugees, who got subjected to bloody ethnic cleansing, to their native lands, Hikmat Hajiyev, spokesperson of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, said in a statement June 27.
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