Territory Dispute with Azerbaijan, Not Turkey

February 8th, 2006
Embassy
Letters
Fakhraddin Gurbanov Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Canada

In his interview with Embassy, Armenia's Ambassador to Canada, Ara Papian, has referred to the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan as a disputed territory (Re: Diplomatic Circles, Embassy Feb. 1). I understand that Mr. Papian can say whatever he wants in his interview, at the same time I deem it important that Embassy's readers must be informed that the Nagorno-Karabakh region is a part of Azerbaijan, officially recognized by the international community and currently occupied by Armenian military forces.

The United Nations Security Council in its resolutions 822, 953, 874 and 884 of 1993 has reconfirmed the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and its sovereignty over its Nagorno-Karabakh region, and demanded unconditional and immediate withdrawal of military forces from this and other occupied regions of Azerbaijan.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in its resolution 1416 of 2005 on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue reiterated that "the occupation of foreign territory by a member state constitutes a grave violation of that state's obligations as a member of the Council of Europe."[...]

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.