A meeting was held with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Germany to Azerbaijan.

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Mətbuat xidmətinin məlumatı 22 September, 2016

Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the State Committee for Refugees and IDPs, chairman of the Republican Commission on International Humanitarian Aid Ali Hasanov met with the newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Germany to the country Michael Kindsgrab on September 22. During the meeting, congratulating Michael Kindsgrab on this appointment Ali Hasanov wished success in his activity in Azerbaijan, as well as expressed his belief that this appointment will be very important for the development of relations between Azerbaijan and Germany. He stated that bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Germany have successfully developed and cooperation between our countries is in a very active stage. Ali Hasanov also expressed his gratitude to the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany for the assistance provided to solve the problems of Azerbaijani refugees and IDPs through the international humanitarian organizations representing the country. 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. During the meeting, Ali Hasanov expressed his hope that the negotiations on Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be intensive during OSCE chairmanship of Federal Republic of Germany. Expressing gratitude for detailed information and warm reception Michael Kindsgrab stated that they are interested in the expansion of relations with Azerbaijan which is stable and developing partner country on the development of bilateral relations. The ambassador emphasized the rapid development of Azerbaijan in recent years and further increase of international prestige of the country, as well as expressing satisfaction with friendly relations here, he highly appreciated the special attention by the Azerbaijani government to German heritage. The German diplomat said that he will make best effort in a further expansion of our cooperation in political, economic, energy security, cultural and other spheres. At the same time, he highly appreciated the work done by the state to improve the living conditions of refugees and IDPs in Azerbaijan.