Azerbaijan, Baku, May 14 / Trend /
"Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must be solved based on the international law norms," said the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev while receiving the members of the US Council on Foreign Relations, AzerTaj state news agency reported.
"As to Armenia's attempts to put forward an argument on self-determination, I want to say that Armenians exercised this right when Armenian state was established. With this logic, there must be many Armenian states in the world. It is a wrong approach," Aliyev said.
"During talks, we always try to draw Armenian side's attention to the Helsinki Final Act. The articles about territorial integrity and self-determination are clearly set forth in the final act: self-determination may not contradict the principle of internationally recognized territorial integrity of states. Therefore, resolution of the conflict must be, first of all, based on the international law norms, which will allow us to restore our territorial integrity and Azerbaijani population to return their homes to live in peace," Aliyev said.
The Head of State said that in the light of processes concerning integration and opening of borders in Europe, no country must build its future in isolation. "Today, the situation Armenia got into was created by them through pursuing an aggressive policy".
"The United Nations Security Council adopted four resolutions demanding unconditional withdrawal of Armenian troops from occupied lands. The world community recognized the fact of occupation of our lands. Territorial integrity of Azerbaijan was recognized and supported internationally. Minsk Group co-chairs made statements a few times supporting Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. When Azerbaijan joined the UN, it recognized the country's territorial integrity," Commander-in-Chief of Azerbaijan said.
"As to the progress in negotiations, I assess it as the positive process and progress in some points of the agreement, which was impossible a few years ago, has been achieved. However, this progress is not enough to solve the problem and secure the agreement. It is 17 years since Minsk Group has been established and notwithstanding the progress there is no any result. The situation remains unchanged. Our lands are under occupation. Seven regions located outside Nagorno-Karabakh border were occupied by Armenians," the State Head said.