Baku, September 19, AZERTAC

Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov met with Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Antonio Tajani as part of his visit to New York to attend the opening of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly.

According to the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the ministers expressed their satisfaction with the rapid development of relations between Azerbaijan and Italy in all fields, especially economic, energy and humanitarian ones. In this context, the parties emphasized the importance of high-level visits between the two countries.

Minister Jeyhun Bayramov also updated his counterpart about the successive steps being taken by Azerbaijan to normalize bilateral relations with Armenia in the post-conflict period, as well as the restoration and construction work in the liberated territories. The close participation of Italian companies in the restoration and reconstruction work in the liberated areas was noted with satisfaction.

Jeyhun Bayramov then informed his colleague from Italy about the latest situation in the region and the local anti-terrorist measures initiated by Azerbaijan, drawing attention to the factors that had led up to the introduction of these measures.

The minister emphasized that Armenia was yet to fully withdraw its armed forces from the territory of Azerbaijan in flagrant violation of international law and paragraph 4 of the trilateral statement dated November 10, 2020. Armenia’s continued support for separatism using all possible political, military, financial and ideological means against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan was the main cause of tensions in the region.

The military provocations committed by Armenia and the illegal regime it has established in the sovereign territories of Azerbaijan have intensified, military engineering activities have been stepped up and Armenia’s combat positions have been continuously strengthened in recent days. These observations are evidence of the fact that the illegal armed groups stationed in Azerbaijani territories are preparing for yet another large-scale military provocation.

Finally, on September 19, as a result of the explosion of mines planted by illegal Armenian military formations, six people were killed, including employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs serving in the area, as well as civilians involved in the restoration work, and six others were seriously injured.

The local anti-terrorist measures carried out by the armed forces was aimed exclusively against legitimate military targets and was intended to neutralizing the illegal military infrastructure of Armenia.

Jeyhun Bayramov emphasized that all measures were being taken to prevent damage to civilians and civilian infrastructure during the operation. As the Azerbaijani side has repeatedly stated, it is determined to guarantee the rights and freedoms of the Armenian residents of the Karabakh economic region and their security based on the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the international human rights mechanisms it supports.

The minister also drew attention to the fact that in order to stabilize the situation in the region, it was necessary to completely withdraw the Armenian armed forces from the territories of Azerbaijan, disarm the illegal Armenian armed groups and dissolve all the components of the illegal regime.

During the meeting, the sides also exchanged opinions on other international and regional issues of mutual interest.