(MENAFN- AzerNews)
In response to the groundless allegations against our country
before COP29, the ambassador of Azerbaijan to Britain, Elin
Suleymanov, published a long article in the prestigious "The
Telegraph" newspaper.
According to Azernews , it is mentioned in the
article that Azerbaijan's hosting of COP29 is the first time that
such a prestigious event related to climate action will be held in
our region. Although some view the COP more as a platform for
discussion than action, Azerbaijan is determined to achieve the
creation of practical mechanisms for climate finance, carbon
markets, small island states, and the future of humanity in
general.
"Next month, for the first time in our wider region, Azerbaijan
will host COP29, the world's annual forum to address the urgent
need for meaningful climate action.
While some still prefer any COP to be a kitchen sink discussion
club with little real-life impact, Azerbaijan is determined to
deliver tangible progress on climate finance, carbon markets, and
change for Small Island Developing States that replaces talk with
agreed, practical mechanisms for action to ensure a better future
for humanity," he said.
Ambassador Suleymanov stressed that COP29 needs to be used as a
peace platform to achieve a successful agreement between Azerbaijan
and Armenia.
"One of the initiatives put forward by Azerbaijan is the COP
Truce, akin to the call for an Olympic truce issued every four
years. This global appeal has a regional dimension since the
decision to host COP29 in Baku came after a breakthrough agreement
with Armenia on endorsing Azerbaijan's candidacy. This was an
outcome of direct, constructive talks between our two nations.
In fact, as acknowledged by both sides, Armenia and Azerbaijan
are closer to a peace agreement than ever before, the border
delimitation commissions are working and have already delivered a
demarcation along a portion of the border and a de-facto peace has
become a reality on the ground."
The Azerbaijani diplomat also talked about Azerbaijan's
restoring justice, its territorial integrity, and most importantly
the law that Armenia ignored for 30 years.
"All of this is ultimately possible because Azerbaijan has
restored its territorial integrity within internationally
recognised borders in accordance with four UN Security Council
resolutions. To remind those criticising Azerbaijan today, it was
Armenia that occupied Azerbaijani territories and committed ethnic
cleansing for thirty years, as testified by all international
documents, not the other way around.
For all the media commotion around Foreign Secretary Lammy's
recent words, Azerbaijan indeed liberated its lands that were under
foreign occupation. Stating a basic geographic truth is only
politically controversial when those who criticise it have an
agenda that is furthered by ignoring simple, verifiable facts.
Still, it is refreshing to see our Armenian colleagues refer to
Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and sovereignty when they spent
the best part of the last three decades trying to remove any
references to this veracity from those same international
documents."
Ambassador Elin Suleymanov added: "Even with wounds of the war,
thirty years of illegal occupation and forced displacement, it has
repeatedly been Azerbaijan that extended the olive branch, laid out
basic principles for a lasting peace, and constantly demanded
progress on an agreement.
We have even been willing to set aside and negotiate separately
from the peace treaty even previous agreements – which Armenia has
later reneged on – such as the proposed Zangezur corridor, a
transportation link that would have benefited the entire region as
previously agreed and signed between our countries in the
Trilateral statement of 2020.
While there has been major progress, it is abundantly clear that
stalling to lengthen the path to peace is a key negotiating
strategy of the Armenian side. That is not the story that they tell
in public, of course. There they say the very opposite, pronouncing
that it is Azerbaijan that causes the delay. With no evidence save
for rhetoric, this is an attempt at diplomatic gaslighting.
From clumsy attempts to deny the existence of minefield maps,
which official Yerevan finally acknowledged after hundreds of
Azerbaijanis fell victims to landmines, to the refusal to meet with
the Azerbaijani side including at the recent European Political
Community Summit in Oxfordshire earlier this year, to simply
manipulating text of the draft agreement – Armenia's foot-dragging
is detrimental for peace.
Perhaps this should be expected. Despite declaring its formal
independence, Armenia has never really assumed full sovereignty
because of external economic and military debt to others for the
political and financial cost of an illegal occupation of its
neighbour's land. This makes engaging in good faith as an
independent nation with its neighbours a tall order. Armenia's own
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has himself described these
challenges in detail in numerous speeches.
But the fact that illegal occupation is over, along with many of
the political and financial burdens it caused, means now is the
moment to correct the mistakes of the past. There is the chance to
end dependency on external protectors and finally start working
directly with partners in the region.
Sadly, Armenian diplomats still call for“Western pressure”
against Azerbaijan, clearly in the hope of replacing previous
sponsor Russia with some new would-be western protectors. This is
even though most of the progress has been made through direct talks
between Armenia and Azerbaijan, exactly as it should be between two
neighbours.
When Armenia says that words matter, no words matter more than
those in the Constitution, the highest law of the land. And there
is a clear reference to declaring the territory of Azerbaijan,
which Armenia's Prime Minister now says is part of Azerbaijan, as
part of Armenia.
As such, words of Armenian officials contradict their own
Constitution and legal documents on an issue at the core of the
peace talks with Azerbaijan. If both nations recognise each other's
territorial integrity and sovereignty, it should be final and
irreversible for any peace to last. Unfortunately, the current
Armenian Constitution simply doesn't allow for that.
Some may say that a paragraph in the peace agreement would
address this, but as the Armenian government says itself, no
foreign treaty is above the Constitution. The country has form
here: the Zurich Protocol, signed with much fanfare between Armenia
and Türkiye and enthusiastically endorsed by Western leaders, was
later rejected by Armenia's Constitutional Court when it became
politically expedient.
So, let us not play for publicity and trying to score points
externally, but focus instead on removing real obstacles to a
long-lasting, sustainable peace. Armenia and Azerbaijan have shown
in recent years that this is possible when there is the political
will – on both sides. The people of Armenia and Azerbaijan deserve
no less."
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