Statement by H.E. Mr. Elmar Mammadyarov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan at the Third Meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Contact Group on the aggression of the Republic of Armenia against the Republic of Azerbaijan

Mr. Chairman,

Mr. Secretary General,

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to thank the Secretary General, Mr. Yousef Ahmed Al-Othaimeen for having organized the third meeting of the OIC Contact Group on the aggression of the Republic of Armenia against the Republic of Azerbaijan. Let me also warmly welcome the members of the Group and express my gratitude to each of them for their participation at this meeting.

Dear Colleagues,

Since the eruption of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, OIC, on the basis of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, has explicitly determined the actions of Armenia on the territory of Azerbaijan as an aggression and condemned in the strongest possible terms the use of force against Azerbaijan and the occupation of its territories. Taking this opportunity, I would like once again to express my gratitude to the OIC Member States for their solidarity with and support for the just cause of Azerbaijan.

More than quarter of a century has passed since the beginning of the armed conflict. However, in total disregard of the demands of UN Security Council and UN General Assembly resolutions, decisions of OIC and other international organizations and positions of individual States, and in flagrant violation of the generally accepted norms and principles of international law, Armenia continues to unlawfully occupy the territories of Azerbaijan.

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. In flagrant violation of Geneva Conventions of 1948, Armenia continues to exhibit its policy of illegal settlement of refugees and other people of Armenian origin, particularly from Syria in the occupied territories.

Recently the military dictatorship of Armenia was overthrown and the leadership of the country was changed. Preliminary expectations from the new leadership were that it will build up, as proclaimed, its policy with full respect to the democratic values which obviously means respect to the norms and principles of international law.

Unfortunately, the new leadership decided to follow the path of its predecessors and started its functions by making provocative statements, thus inflicting upon serious damage to the ongoing negotiations for the peaceful settlement of the conflict. On September 26, here in New-York I will have a meeting with my Armenian counterpart.

As there are consistent unstable internal political developments in Armenia and there are no external understanding on what is going on in this country we cannot and will not exclude that latest statements and actions of Armenian new prime minister are intended to escalate the situation with more military hostilities on the ground. All consequences of this negative scenario will be completely laid on Armenian side.

Dear colleagues,

We hope that solidarity of the OIC Member States with the just position of Azerbaijan and their unwavering support for its sovereignty and territorial integrity will be translated into more concerted, practical and effective measures in order to bring the aggressor in compliance with the norms and principles of international law, relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council and the OIC decisions. In this regard, we consider the OIC Contact Group on the aggression of the Republic of Armenia against the Republic of Azerbaijan as useful platform for discussing, defining and elaborating on practical steps for the implementation of the relevant OIC decisions on the conflict. The practical measures elaborated by us within this group should be presented for consideration and adoption by the OIC Ministerial meeting and OIC wide implementation.

After the thorough review of the relevant OIC decisions on the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, we have identified a number of measures that will contribute to the practical implementation of those decisions. The measures that we suggest are to be launched by the OIC Secretary General on the basis of our today’s decision. We propose that OIC Secretary General:

1. To distribute in line with the relevant OIC resolutions a Note Verbale containing a reminder for the OIC Member States to instruct their Permanent Representations to international and regional organizations to support efforts of the Government of Azerbaijan towards ending aggression by Armenia.

2. To elaborate proposals on possible contribution by the OIC Member States and the OIC Secretariat in informing international community about the mass killings of Azerbaijanis by the Armenian armed forces in the town of Khojaly of the Republic of Azerbaijan in February 1992;

3. To appeal to the OIC Member States for adoption and enactment of necessary legislative and executive acts and instruments with a view of preventing any supplies of arms and military equipment to Armenia, prohibiting any visits to and activities by natural and legal persons of the Member States in the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan and preventing any assistance to Armenia, which may facilitate the maintenance of occupation of the Azerbaijani territories;

4. To appeal to Member States to notify as widely as possible the tourism companies, travel agencies, tour operators and their umbrella organizations, operating in their territories about illegality of organizing tourist visits to and the promotion of tourism in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and inadmissibility of propagating illegal separatist regime at international tourism fairs and other tourism events;

5. To appeal to Member States to downgrade their bilateral relations with Armenia with a view to compel the latter to comply with demands contained in the UN Security Council Resolutions 822 (1993), 853 (1993), 874 (1993), 884 (1993 as well as the OIC resolutions and decisions adopted with regard to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict;

6. To launch on behalf of the OIC Member States an international campaign of raising awareness on and protest against barbarian acts of destruction by Armenia of the Azerbaijani historical monuments, including mosques and other sacred shrines, illegal archaeological excavations at historical places in the occupied territories, changing toponyms and constructing other fake narratives.

7. To submit for the next meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs a report on implementation by Member States of the documents and decisions adopted within the OIC on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

In conclusion, dear colleagues, allow me once again to express our gratitude to the OIC Member States and the OIC Secretary General for their consistent support to the just cause of Azerbaijan and its efforts to bring the aggression of Armenia to an end.

Thank you.