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21 November 2016

By Seba Aghayeva – Trend.Az

Withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from the occupied Azerbaijani territories will bring an end to incidents, and so there will no longer be a necessity to investigate them, Hikmat Hajiyev, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s spokesman, told Trend Nov. 21. The mechanism of investigating the incidents is not a goal, but rather an auxiliary tool, which serves for the conflict’s settlement, said Hajiyev.

In recent days, Armenia’s foreign minister and other officials have made various statements distorting facts on the investigation of incidents on the line of contact between the troops of Azerbaijan and Armenia.

“Firstly, we must understand the causes of these incidents,” noted Hajiyev. “Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev in his comprehensive and meaningful speech at the Munich Security Conference in front of an international audience said the question is: what do Armenian soldiers do in the occupied Azerbaijani territories, in the Aghdam district? If they don’t want to be killed, noted the president, they shouldn’t go to Aghdam and should stay in Yerevan, Gyumri, in their country.”

Armenia specifically relegates to background the withdrawal of its armed forces from the occupied Azerbaijani territories, which is the main part of the conflict’s settlement, and brings into the foreground such technical and auxiliary issues as the investigation of incidents and turns them into an object of speculation, added Hajiyev.

“It is obvious that using these mechanisms as a cover, Armenia is trying to consolidate the occupation of Azerbaijani territories and keep the status quo, which is considered as unacceptable and unsustainable by presidents of the countries co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group,” noted the spokesman.

He also said Azerbaijan has repeatedly stated its readiness to consider the mechanisms of investigating the incidents as a component of the Armenian armed forces’ withdrawal from the occupied territories.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.