Nagorno-Karabakh has never been a part of independent Azerbaijan, it was annexed to the Soviet Azerbaijan by Joseph Stalin.
Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian, who is in Finland on an official visit, stated the above-said during his address Monday at Aleksanteri Institute of the University of Helsinki.
“Moreover, Azerbaijan has for decades carried out a policy of ethnic cleansing towards Nagorno-Karabakh, menacing the physical security of the Nagorno-Karabakh people, then unleashing an open aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh using mercenaries closely linked to the international terrorist organizations,” Nalbandian continued. “Despite the numerous appeals of the three Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and the international community to fully respect the trilateral ceasefire agreements of 1994 and 1995, Azerbaijan has continued their violations, concentrating heavy weaponry and military forces along the entire Line of Contact, further increasing its warmongering and launching a provocative propaganda campaign on international arena trying to accuse the Armenian side in exactly what it is itself doing, thus preparing ground for new military attacks which can have far-reaching negative consequences for the whole region. It is high time for the international community to take concrete steps in order to bring Azerbaijan to order.
“In these conditions, the right to self-determination is not just what the people of Nagorno-Karabakh rightly aspire, but it is the only key to a just solution of this conflict.
“The large-scale military offensive this April has been a serious blow to the negotiation process and to more than two decades-long efforts of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs. Now immense efforts are needed to restore the negotiation environment.
“Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh have proven their commitment to an exclusively peaceful, negotiated settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. Unfortunately Azerbaijan has acted against such a solution. In order to avoid a new war in the region all of the efforts of the international community should be directed to enforce an exclusively peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.”
