Elmar Mammadyarov has delivered his speech the UN General Assembly.

Read the full text of his remarks on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict below.

"The ongoing armed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan still represents a major threat to international and regional peace and security. The conflict has resulted in the occupation of one-fifth of the territory of Azerbaijan and has made approximately one out of every nine persons in the country an internally displaced or refugee.

Since the very first day of the conflict, combat operations have been conducted exclusively inside the territory of Azerbaijan, almost in the middle of the country, affecting its civilian population and infrastructure.

In its resolutions of 822 (1993), 853 (1993), 874 (1993) and 884 (1993), the UN Security Council acknowledged the fact that military force was used against Azerbaijan; that such actions are unlawful and in contradiction with the purposes and principles of UN Charter; and that they constitute an obvious violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. The numerous decisions and documents adopted by other authoritative international organizations have been framed along the same lines. However, the key Security Council demands, including in the first place the withdrawal of the Armenian forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, have not been implemented yet. On the contrary, the policy and practice of Armenia clearly testify to its intention to secure the annexation of Azerbaijani territories that it has captured through military force and in which it has carried out ethnic cleansing on a massive scale.

Contrary to his earlier statements, the Prime Minister of Armenia now does not shy away even from overtly attempting to regard the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan as part of Armenia. Such an annexationist claim does not only constitute utter disrespect for the norms and principles of international law and the resolutions adopted by the Security Council but even undermines the peace process mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group and its Co-Chairs. Thus, Armenia at the highest political level demonstrates that its real intentions are not the settlement of the conflict through negotiations, but a continuation of the illegal occupation of the Azerbaijani territories.

As there are consistent unstable internal political developments in Armenia, with no external understanding on what is going on in this country, we cannot and will not exclude that the latest statements and actions of the Armenian Prime Minister are aimed at escalating the situation on the ground even more and provoking armed hostilities along the line of contact and on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. But one thing is clear that full responsibility for the consequences of this negative scenario will lie entirely with the Republic of Armenia. We call upon the international community to send a strong message to and exert pressure on Armenia to ensure its full compliance with international law and to immediately and unconditionally start implementation of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions", Mammadyraov said while commenting on unstable internal political developments in Armenia.

"Armenia has consistently obstructed the conflict-settlement process and, in the meantime, refuses to conduct result-oriented negotiations, while it regularly resorts to various provocations to escalate the situation on the ground and tries to consolidate the occupation of the seized territories by changing their demographic, cultural and physical character and preventing the hundreds of thousands of forcibly displaced Azerbaijanis from returning to their homes. In flagrant violation of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, Armenia continues to exhibit its policy of illegal settlement of Armenians, particularly those from Syria, in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

Armenia’s new leadership should understand that their promises to the Armenian people to make Armenia economically developed and prosperous State can’t be possible without peace, good neighborly relations and respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its neighbors. The earlier Armenia puts aside its territorial claims and withdraws troops from the territories of Azerbaijan, the sooner peace can come to our region and prospects for Armenia’s development will be opened.

They are now talking much about democracy and the Armenians of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. But what about the Azerbaijani population of Nagorno-Karabakh and the Azerbaijanis from the seven surrounding districts who were subjected to brutal ethnic cleansing and forced to leave their places of origin, homes and properties? If the new Armenian leadership is calling itself democracy, then they have to act in accordance with the rule of law and democratic values and let those uprooted people return to their homes and withdraw its armed forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, as it is demanded by the relevant resolutions of the Security Council and other international organizations.

Azerbaijan sincerely believes that there is no alternative to peace, stability and mutually beneficial regional cooperation and is the most interested party in the earliest political settlement of the conflict. At the same time, no settlement of the conflict can be reached which violates the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan and is inconsistent with international law. The resolution of the conflict is possible only on the basis of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan within its internationally recognized borders".

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