Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov addressed the 131st session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on May 21, 2021, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry told QİA.AZ.
Stressing that Azerbaijan joined the Council of Europe 20 years ago (marked on January 25, 2021), the minister said that during the period of its membership, Azerbaijan actively participated in constructive cooperation with this organization and its various institutions in all spheres of the organization’s activity and is interested in continuing this cooperation on the basis of mutual respect and understanding.
Bayramov said that the 30th anniversary of the restoration of Azerbaijan’s independence in 1991 and the first year without an armed conflict throughout 30 years of independence are marked this year.
The tripartite statement [on ceasefire and cessation of all hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh region] signed by the leaders of Azerbaijan, Russia and Armenia on November 10, 2020 put an end to the 30-year-old armed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The participants were informed that this document created the necessary conditions for the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan on the basis of mutual respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of the internationally recognized borders of the two countries.
At the same time, Bayramov regretted that Armenia still violates the obligations arising from the statement signed on November 10, 2020 and international humanitarian law in general.
Armenia’s refusal to give the maps of minefields in the liberated territories of Azerbaijan, to provide information on the fate of about 4,000 Azerbaijanis who disappeared as a result of the military aggression committed against Azerbaijan in 1991-1994, causes big concern.
The minister called on the international community, including the Council of Europe, to convince Armenia to abandon revanchist activity and hatred against Azerbaijan, to take advantage of the unique opportunity for peace, regional cooperation and development.
In his speech, Bayramov congratulated Germany on the successful completion of the chairmanship in the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe and expressed Azerbaijan’s full support for the future chairmanship of Hungary.