AIT rector Agil Shirinov addressed the rectors of international higher education institutions
AIT rector Agil Shirinov addressed the rectors of international higher education institutions collaborating with AIT as well as the heads of religious schools and institutions popular in the Islamic world concerning Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan on September 27, 2020.
“It has been almost 30 years since the last Armenian invasion of our homeland. The first attacks began in the late 1980s and lasted until 1994 which resulted with the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions by Armenian forces as well as the displacement of more than 1 million Azerbaijanis from their hometowns. According to the Bishkek Protocol signed in May of the same year, the parties declared a ceasefire, and military operations in the region were suspended. Despite the ceasefire, the Azerbaijani Army and civilian population have been repeatedly subjected to Armenian aggression in previous years, and in the majority of cases, the situation aggravated with the attacks. Throughout the years, thousands of Azerbaijani soldiers and civilians perished as a result of Armenian violence.
UN Security Council Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884, adopted in 1993 on the unconditional withdrawal of Armenian forces from Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas, have not yet been implemented.
Over the last years, Azerbaijan implemented several peacekeeping and diplomatic activities within the framework of international law and consequently proposed the most adequate solution to the conflict by liberating initally 5 and then 2 regions ensuring that Azerbaijanis live with Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s statements such as “Karabakh is Armenia”, “Azerbaijan must negotiate with Karabakh”, “Occupied lands will not be returned to Azerbaijan” as well as various attacks against Azerbaijan in recent months have proved that Armenia is not supporting peace and that escalated the situation.
On September 27, 2020, the Azerbaijani Army began counter-attack operations on frontline against Armenian provocations. These operations are carried out on the lands of the Republic of Azerbaijan that are internationally recognized and marked as Azerbaijani territory on the current maps. While Azerbaijani soldiers are fighting on the territory of Azerbaijan and targeting only military facilities and military infrastructure, the Armenian army, is shelling Azerbaijani cities located far away from the Armenian border, industrial facilities, hospitals, schools, kindergartens violating the 1949 Geneva Convention. Dozens of civilians were killed, hundreds were injured and infrastructure was severely damaged as a result. Ganja, the second largest city of Azerbaijan, Mingachevir water reservoir, the largest hydroelectric power station in the region, and the internationally important Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline were shelled by Armenian forces using weapons prohibited by international law. This proves that Armenia is a major threat to the energy security of the region and Europe.
As distinguished from Armenia, Azerbaijan is a tolerant, multicultural and multiethnic state. People are not discriminated for their religious and ethnic backgrounds in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan, where different religions and ethnic groups coexist in peace and under the state care, demonstrated tolerance and collaboration in the international arena to resolve the issue through peace and negotiations over the past 30 years. Violations of international law by Armenia, the abscence of sanctions by international organizations against the agressor, ineffecient activities of mediators caused Azerbaijan to retaliate. Azerbaijan demands the withdrawal of Armenian forces from Nagorno-Karabakh and return of 1 million refugees to their hometowns pursuing UN Security Council resolutions on the evacuation of the occupied territories and continues to fight for justice. Therefore, I ask you to inform your team and the public of your country about the real character of our struggle.”