Baku, September 28, AZERTAC

Co-chairs and members of the Nizami Ganjavi International Center have issued a statement condemning Armenia’s recent military provocations.

The statement reads: “The early morning news of border clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia have shocked a world fully focused on the 75th anniversary of the UN General Assembly.

At a time when the Secretary-General, supported by many world leaders, has reiterated his call for a multilateral world order, governed by international law, we would like to express our strongest condemnation over the artillery attacks by Armenian military forces along the frontline in the occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Not for the first time, ceasefire lines established since 1994 have been violated and civil casualties are being deplored.

The world needs to be reminded that the Republic of Armenia has so far utterly failed to unconditionally comply and fully implement UN Security Council resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884, calling inter alia for a complete and immediate withdrawal of occupying forces from all occupied regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

As co-chairs and members of the Nizami Ganjavi International Center, an international body headquartered in Baku and dedicated to learning, tolerance, dialogue and understanding, we would like to express our full solidarity with the people of Azerbaijan as it is continuously confronted with blatant violations of international law. The rights of the Republic of Azerbaijan to its sovereignty and territorial integrity are accepted internationally and have been repeatedly supported by resolutions of the UN and other international bodies.”

We extend our deepest sympathies to the families of those who have lost their lives in the latest flare-up of armed conflict along the borders, where provocations from Armenia have been multiplying of late. We fully support all efforts of the Republic of Azerbaijan to restore its territorial integrity. We would entreat the Presidents of both neighboring counties, Azerbaijan and Armenia, to observe restraint and avoid an escalation of the conflict, which would endanger the stability and security of the whole region of the South Caucasus. We call on the international community, especially the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to live up to its legal commitments and moral responsibilities, by taking all necessary steps to defuse the currently acute clashes as well as to resolve the long-standing frozen conflict concerning Nagorno-Karabakh and other illegally occupied Azerbaijani territories. The one million Azerbaijani refugees and internally displaced persons, like refugees everywhere, are waiting for the right to finally return to their lands and their homes. The peaceful civilians living along the borders of disputed territories deserve calling on the Responsibility to Protect of the United Nations.”

Dr Vaira Vike-Freiberga, President of Latvia 1999-2007, co-chair

Dr Ismail Serageldin, Vice President of the World Bank, co-chair

Zlatko Lagumdzija, Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina 2001-2002, Minister of Foreign Affairs 2012-2015

Filip Vujanovic, President of Montenegro 2003-2018

Jan Fisher, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic 2009-2010

Hikmet Cetin, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey 1991-1994

Mladen Ivanic, President of Bosnia and Herzegovina 2014-2018

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, former Secretary General of Organization of Islamic Countries

Eka Tkeshelashvili, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia 2010-2012

Kateryna Yushchenko, First Lady of Ukraine 2005-2010

Ivo Josipovic, President of Croatia 2010-2015

Amre Moussa, Secretary General of the Arab League 2001-2011

Elsa Papademitiou, former Vice President of the Greek Parliament

Peter Stoyanov, President of Bulgaria 1997-2002