About the new military aggression of the Armenian government on the territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Dear compatriots!
Members and supporters of the Azerbaijan Democratic Party!
According to many local and foreign news agencies, on Sunday, July 12, 2020, the armed forces of the Armenian aggressor government once again attacked to the territory of the Azerbaijan Republic in the “Tovuz” region of Azerbaijan. This aggression of the enemy was neutralized by the counter-operation of the Azerbaijani military units. However, Counteractions still continue. Both sides have casualties. An elderly civilian, several soldiers and high-ranking officers, including an army general, total of 11 people, were heroically martyred. As you know, the conflicts between the Republic of Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region, an integral part of the Azerbaijan Republic , erupted in the last years of the Soviet Union. Immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union, this conflict turned into a large -scale war between the forces of the two countries as a result of the aggressive policy of the Armenia. The Armenian government which was preparing for aggression suddenly launched attacks, occupied 20 percent of the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan and expelled citizens from their homeland by abusing from the chaos after collapse of Soviet Union and the first years of independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Thousands of soldiers and civilians, men and women, old and young, and children were brutally killed, thousands were wounded and disabled , 7 neighboring region in addition to Nagorno-Karabakh were occupied by the Armenian government, and about a million people were expelled from their homeland and displaced. Finally, in 1993, a ceasefire was established by mediation of Russia, European countries and the United States. A large conference was held in Minsk, the capital of the Republic of Belarus, with the participation of representatives of these countries and the parties to the conflict. A working group representative from Russia, France and the United States has been appointed to bring an end to the conflict and establish peace through political negotiations by agreement of the both parties. Then the disputes between the two countries and Armenia’s territorial claims were discussed at the UN. UN resolutions recognized the Armenian government as an aggressor, declared the occupied territories and Nagorno-Karabakh as Azerbaijani territory, and called on the Armenian government to evacuate the occupied territories and hand them over to the Azerbaijani government. The Azerbaijani government was also asked to respect the rights of the small number of Armenian citizens living in Nagorno-Karabakh and ensure their autonomy in local affairs. Unfortunately, despite the readiness of the Azerbaijani government to ensure the rights and autonomy of the small number of Armenian citizens living in Nagorno-Karabakh at the highest level, the negotiations of the Minsk Group with the parties have not yet been completed. Despite the official ceasefire between the parties during these 27 years, , the Armenian forces repeatedly violated the ceasefire on the front line, and each time was met with a decisive counterattack from the Azerbaijani army. However, this time the Armenian government forces initiated this unsuccessful aggression in the Tovuz region, between the official border of the two countries, hundreds of kilometers away from the Nagorno-Karabakh front line, in the Tovuz region between Ganja and Georgia ..! Some experts believe that the reason why Armenian government launched its new aggression in this territory is that the Azerbaijani oil and gas pipelines pass through this area to Georgia, Turkey and Europe. This is a place of strategic importance for Azerbaijan and other countries. According to these analysts, if the Armenian government could occupy this region, it could lead to serious problems for Azerbaijan’s oil and gas exports, and as well as no doubt other interested countries would engaged in this conflict openly or covertly. If Global Assemblies , including the United Nations, the Minsk Group and the powerful countries of the region, do not want a new destructive war in the region, they must force the Armenian government to withdraw its forces peacefully from the territory of Azerbaijan and respect its territorial integrity. Otherwise, in a situation where the Azerbaijani people and government are deprived of their rights as in the past, the Azerbaijani people and government cannot be accused of defending their homeland with honor and liberating the occupied territories. The Azerbaijan Democratic Party has always condemned the Armenian government’s aggression on the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan and has always been and will always be with its Azerbaijani brothers and sisters.
Central Committee of the Azerbaijan Democratic Party
July 16, 2020