Nagorno-Karabakh and Syria among issues Azerbaijan minister discusses at UN debate
Azerbaijani and Armenian communities of the Nagorno-Karabakh region will “one day live shoulder-to-shoulder,” Azerbaijan’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Elmar Mammadyarov, told the United Nations General Assembly Debate today.
“We sincerely believe there is no alternative to peace, stability and mutually beneficial regional cooperation,” the Foreign Affairs Minister told the 67th Assembly’s General Debate, taking place at UN Headquarters in New York. “Azerbaijan is the most interested party in the earliest negotiated settlement of the dispute.”
In his statement, Mr. Mammadyarov also addressed his country’s participation in the Security Council in the 2012-2013 term, highlighting how his country, which served as President of the 15-member body in May, organizing a meeting under the so-called Arria Formula – a mechanism that allows Member States greater flexibility in the way they are briefed on a particular issue – to “encourage a frank exchange of views… on the role of mediation, judicial settlement and justice in promoting durable and international law-based peace and reconciliation.”
The Foreign Affairs Minister expressed Azerbaijan’s concern over the Middle East peace process, which he said has “been at a standstill,” and called on the parties to create the necessary conditions conducive to the resumption of negotiations.
In addition, he said Azerbaijan remained “deeply concerned” over both the violence and the “socio-economic and humanitarian situation” in Syria, and expressed deep concern over the “recent escalation provoked by blasphemy against Islam” – indirectly referring to a recent anti-Islam video made in the US which led to violent reactions in various cities around the world.
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Affairs Minister is one of scores of world leaders and other high-level officials presenting their views and comments on issues of individual, national and international relevance at the Assembly’s General Debate, which ends Oct. 1.