The position of Armenia is dangerous not only for the region as well as for the world

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Mətbuat xidmətinin məlumatı 01 September, 2016

On September 1, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Chairman of the State Committee on Deals of the Refugees and IDPs Ali Hasanov, gave an interview to the Deputy Chairman of the Union of Journalists of Lithuania on a visit to Azerbaijan, editor of the web portal "Alkas.lt" Audris Antanaytis in order to learn in place the situation related to the events on Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the current situation of refugees and IDPs in the country and the settlement of their problems. Providing information on Armenia-Azerbaijan, Daghlig Garabagh conflict, historical roots and reasons of its creation in chronological sequence in interview, the Deputy Prime Minister stated that in the last 200 years Azerbaijanis were exposed to forced relocation from their native lands, ethnic cleansing and deportation policy for several times due to complex political processes occurring in Southern Caucasus which resulted in step-by step invasion of Azerbaijan territories. “Armenia was established by the historical territories of Azerbaijan. One of the ancient cities of Azerbaijan, Yerevan is the capital of Armenia now”, - mentioned Ali Hasanov. Aiming at the conquest of Caucasus, the Tsarist Russia launched war operations against Iran over the territories of Azerbaijan. As the result, all khanates of the Northern Azerbaijan were occupied by the Russian Empire. In accordance with the Turkmenchay Treaty between the Tsarist Russia and Iran, signed on 10 February 1828, the Northern Azerbaijan was annexed to Russian Empire, while the Southern Azerbaijan was included into Iran. During the war of 1826-1828, eighteen thousand Armenian families were moved from Iran and Southern Azerbaijani territories to South Caucasus. During the next two years, 40 thousand Armenians from Iran and 84 thousand Armenians from Turkey were moved to Elizavetpol and Erivan Governorates. Foreign journalists have been informed that Azerbaijani people living in their native lands in the territory of Armenia have been deported from their lands for 4 times in the last 200 years- in the years of 1905, 1918, 1948-1952 and 1988-1992. The last deportation was carried out in the time of President Mikhail Gorbachev. In fact, it was not a deportation but the ethnic cleansing. As a result of this 250 thousand Azerbaijani people have been displaced from Armenia in those years. Upon Mikhail Gorbachev’s ascent to power in 1985, the Armenians and pro-Armenian forces quickly moved into action and started implementing their plans based on their long-aspired dream of “Greater Armenia.” After the Armenian nationalists obtained Mikhail Gorbachev’s consent during his visit to France in 1986, the only obstacle remaining on their path was the first deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of USSR and the only Azerbaijani member of the Central Committee of the Soviet Union Communist Party – Mr. Heydar Aliyev. Knowing Heydar Aliyev’s firm and uncompromising position on this issue, even from the times of his service as the First Secretary of the Central Committee of Azerbaijan Communist Party, the Armenian separatists and their protectors in Kremlin managed to remove him from office in 1987. After the events of Sumgait in February 1988, instigated with the help of State Security Committee of USSR and the Armenians themselves, more than 250 thousand Azerbaijanis residing in Armenia were forced to leave their native lands due to threats and terror of Armenian nationalists. Concerning the results of military aggression by Armenian armed force against Azerbaijan, the Deputy Prime Minister stated that 20 percent of our territory was occupied, one million two hundred citizens became refugees and IDPs, national-cultural resources were plundered, the whole infrastructure was destroyed due to the conflict. The Deputy Prime Minister emphasized that four resolutions were adopted by UN Security Council on the liberation of occupied territories of Azerbaijan, relocation of refugees and IDPs to their native lands in 1993: “Aggressive policy of Armenia was condemned in decisions and resolutions adopted by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and other influential international organizations. Unfortunately, these decisions and resolutions have not been solved yet. Negotiations conducted more that 20 years through the mediation of OSCE Minsk group haven’t yield any result yet as well”. Ali Hasanov noted that Armenian armed forces committed crime of genocide against Azerbaijanis in Khojaly city by means of 366th motorized rifle regiment of former USSR located in Khojaly armed with the modern combat weapons of that period on February 25-26, 1992. Consequently innocent people were mercilessly killed. He mentioned that a number of countries in the world recognized this tragedy as genocide. Emphasizing that the people committing this tragedy are in power in Armenia at present, the Deputy Prime Minister, Ali Hasanov stated that the position of this invader country, non-fulfillment of resolutions adopted by the influential international organizations, conducting aggressive policy at present are dangerous not only for the region and the whole world as well. Thus, using the resources allocated by the State Oil Fund, 94 new settlements were constructed, complete with social and technical infrastructure, with residential apartments covering the total area of 2.9 million sq.m, improving the housing conditions for 49 thousand families and 243 thousand refugees and IDPs. The leaders of influential organizations visiting Azerbaijan have highly regarded Azerbaijan’s efforts and collaboration with international humanitarian organizations in this area. Overall, during 1993-2016, 6.1 billion manat were spent for solving the social problems of refugees and IDPs, out of which 2.7 billion was allocated from the state budget, 2.0 billion came from the State Oil Fund, and 1,4 billion were the resources of different international organizations operating in our country. Besides, mentioning existence of our citizens living under severe conditions, the execution of activities in a staged manner according to the State Programs and Annexes to them on the improvement of living conditions of Azerbaijanis, approved by the decree of head of state, the Deputy Prime Minister, A.Hasanov mentioned that Azerbaijan completely undertook the solution of problems of its refugees and IDPs, actions carried out in our country in this field were considered the sample by UN High Commissioner for Refugees for countries facing the similar problem in the world. Deputy Prime Minister expressed that there are Diasporas of Armenians all over the world and the date of their formation is more than 200 years. Armenians have worked in the most important government posts in the former Soviet era. As a result of these powers and opportunities our nasty neighbors have disseminated groundless information against Azerbaijan. And we achieved to establish our Diaspora organizations after the years of independence. This year is the 25the anniversary of our independence regained. Yet in 1918 Azerbaijan has established an independent Republic at the first time in the Muslim East. We were able to restore our independence in 1991. This created an opportunity for us to promote about our country and government in the world. Although Azerbaijani national leader Heydar Aliyev started this job but it is continued successfully and resolutely by the President Ilham Aliyev currently. Today Azerbaijan is open for the world, it is the most tolerant country. Representatives of all nationalities, religions live here as one family, in the conditions of peace and tranquility. Churches and synagogues function in Baku. Over the last ten years, the country has held two interreligious international conferences. Religious leaders almost from 160 countries participated in these events. Despite occupation of its lands, Azerbaijan is the most stable, safe country on the CIS space. Over the last ten years, Azerbaijan, quickly developing under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, has turned into one of the authoritative countries of the world. We are already recognized and accepted not as the oil and gas country, also as the country realizing global projects, accepting the important actions directed on the solution of universal problems. We can show as an example “Eurovision” song contest, First European Olympic Games held in Baku for the first time, international dialogue forums and many other similar events. The Deputy Prime minister mentioned at the meeting: Aggressive Armenian armed forces which occupied our territories attacked on our positions in the line of contact at the recent days and as a result of this our armed forces and civilians were killed. Such kind of their acts of provocation is condemned by the several countries and international organizations. I think that, the international organizations should carry out practical, concrete works related to the withdrawal from the occupied Azerbaijani territories of Armenian armed forces. At the meeting of Security Council Mr. President also emphasized that the Azerbaijani army has decently responded to the provocative attack of Armenians in the line of contact on April 2 and gained a great victory. So after that all the provocations of the enemy will not remain unanswered. Because Azerbaijani army is capable of it. Armenia doesn’t want peace and doesn’t want to be withdrawn from the occupied lands and its all efforts were directed to maintain status quo to the maximum. Armenia has violated all international norms. At the same time Mr. President mentioned: “We want to solve the problem peacefully. We don’t want war and bloodshed In the end, Ali Hasanov stated that relations between Azerbaijan and Lithuania are based on good grounds and expressed his confidence that these relations will continue successfully in the future and thanked to Lithuanian journalists for being interested in the biggest problem for the country, the Armenian-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He also thanked the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Lithuania and International Eurasia Press Fund for organizing the visit.