POLITICS
Ambassador: Azerbaijan appreciates Malaysia's support on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
Kuala Lumpur, February 28, AZERTAC
"Azerbaijan appreciates Malaysia's support on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," said Azerbaijani Ambassador to Malaysia Galey Allahverdiyev in his interview with the Malaysian National News Agency Bernama.
In his interview, Ambassador Galey Allahverdiyev says that Azerbaijan, 20 per cent of territory of which is still under neighboring Armenia’s occupation, highly appreciates Malaysia’s continued support on the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Noting that Kuala Lumpur and Baku established diplomatic ties in 1993, the Ambassador mentions that Kuala Lumpur supported the four United Nations resolutions adopted during the conflict, which, among others, reaffirmed Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. “Malaysia also supported resolutions on Azerbaijan’s position with regard to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict at other major international forums, including the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).”
Highlighting the 27th anniversary of the commemoration of the Khojaly tragedy, committed by the Armenian Armed forces against the Azerbaijani people, the Ambassador says that on the night of 25-26 February 1992, 613 ethnic Azerbaijani civilians were killed in a small town of Khojaly in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. “The number included 106 women, 63 children and 70 elderly people. Besides that, on that bloody night, 1,275 people were taken as hostages while 150 more are still missing. There are memorials erected in several countries like Germany, Turkey, the Netherlands, Mexico and Bosnia and Herzegovina dedicated to the victims,” the diplomat mentions.”
Allahverdiyev said several countries have already recognized the tragedy as genocide, adding that more than one million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced persons due to the Armenian occupation.
In his interview, Ambassador Galey Allahverdiyev provides detailed information on the history and consequences of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. “As a result of the conflict which began by the groundless territorial claims put forward by Armenia, 20 per cent of Azerbaijan’s territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts are under occupation. All these areas are internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan. Due to the current occupation by Armenia, no diplomatic relations exist between the two countries,” the Ambassador says.
The article points out that in 1998, national leader of the Azerbaijani people Heydar Aliyev issued a decree to commemorate March 31 as the “Day of Azerbaijanis' Genocide”, conducting a political and legal assessment of the genocidal acts committed by Armenians against Azerbaijanis at the beginning of the 20th century.
Vugar Aghayev
Special Correspondent