By Rashid Shirinov
Armenia occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory and its fault is undeniable, Turkish Foreign Minister Movlut Cavusoglu said on December 20.
He made the remarks at the press conference in Baku after meeting with his Azerbaijani and Iranian counterparts, APA reports.
Cavusoglu noted that everybody is aware of the Khojaly tragedy and reiterated that Turkey supports the formula of the conflict settlement adopted by Azerbaijan.
Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan by laying territorial claims on the country. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.
To this day, Armenia has not implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.
Cavusoglu also noted that Armenia should know how to behave with its neighbors: “We have put condition before Armenia to return the occupied territories. Only after this, our relations can be normalized.”
Answering the question about the protocols signed between Turkey and Armenia in Switzerland in 2009, the FM reminded that Armenia submitted them to its Constitutional Court, which, in turn, excluded some important articles from the documents.
“Until our condition is met, the implementation of this agreement is impossible,” Cavusoglu added.
The Armenian leadership has recently said it is going to cancel the protocols signed with Turkey until spring 2018.
Turkey and Armenia severed diplomatic relations in 1993 due to occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenian Armed Forces and Yerevan’s claims over recognition of the so-called Armenian genocide. Borders between Turkey and Armenia are still closed.
Turkey has always supported the resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict based on Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and inviolability of the country’s internationally recognized borders.