New York, September 23, 2019

Mr. Secretary General,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to thank the Secretary General, Dr. Yousef Ahmed Al-Othaimeen for having organized and chairing the fourth meeting of the OIC Contact Group on the aggression of the Republic of Armenia against the Republic of Azerbaijan. Let me also warmly welcome and thank the members of the Group for their participation at this meeting.

Dear Colleagues,

Since the eruption of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, OIC has demonstrated a principled position through condemning the aggression against Azerbaijan and urging Armenia to implement UN Security Council resolutions 822, 853, 874, 884, which reaffirmed respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and the inviolability of its international borders and  demanded immediate, unconditional and complete withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. These resolutions are yet to be implemented, and remain valid and binding. Taking this opportunity, I would like to once again express our gratitude to the OIC Member States for their solidarity with and support for the just position of Azerbaijan.

We express our utmost concern with and strongly reject the irresponsible statement made by the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, during his illegal visit to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan on August 5, 2019, declaring the inalienable part of Azerbaijan – the Nagorno-Karabakh region – as a territory of Armenia. In his speech, N. Pashinyan also glorified the results of the conflict that caused internationally well-documented massacres of innocents, ethnic cleansing of more than a million Azerbaijani civilians and deprivation of IDPs from their rights to return to their homes. He also cynically distorted the aim of negotiations under the OSCE Minsk Group auspices describing that as “to defend the outcomes of the … war.” This move follows other recent provocative statements made by various members of the Government of Armenia on not returning to Azerbaijan “an inch of land” and threatening by “new war for new territories” as well as its actions on resettlement of the ethnically cleansed territories of Azerbaijan by Armenian settlers and illegal exploitation of the natural resources of the occupied territories.

Recent provocative statements and actions by the Government of Armenia prove that Armenia’s current government continues the irresponsible path to blatantly violate the norms and principles of international law.

Unfortunately, mediation efforts carried out within the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, have not yielded any results so far. Despite the establishment of a ceasefire, the towns and villages in Azerbaijan situated along the front line of the armed forces of Armenia and Azerbaijan and the border between the two States continue to be attacked resulting in killing and wounding of Azerbaijani servicemen and civilians.

Instead of engaging faithfully into the negotiations with Azerbaijan under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group, Armenia, with the purpose of winning time for consolidation of results of occupation and ethnic cleansing, is abusing the commitment of Azerbaijan to peaceful settlement of the conflict supported by the international community and is taking every opportunity to slow down the process of negotiations and to escape the solution.

The Government of Azerbaijan believes that the international community having an obligation to uphold the rules-based international order must not give to the government of Armenia any sense of impunity and any opportunity to protract the conflict.

In light of Armenia’s irresponsible behavior, the future of the peaceful negotiations resides in the ability, willingness and determination of the international community, including the Islamic Ummah, to act promptly and resolutely on this matter of deep concern.

In this regard, expect that the OIC Member will take effective political and economic measures to bring Armenia in compliance with the United Nations Security Council resolutions.  We further hope that the adoption by the OIC Member States of the resolution "On Solidarity with the Victims of the Khojaly Massacre of 1992" at the 45^th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers in Dhaka in 2016, will contribute to the efforts of the OIC Member States for recognition and condemnation of the crimes perpetrated in the town of Khojaly and other occupied territories of Azerbaijan as war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide at the national and international levels.

We attach utmost importance to the OIC Contact Group on the aggression of the Republic of Armenia against the Republic of Azerbaijan as a useful mechanism for reviewing the implementation by the OIC Member States of the OIC resolutions on the conflict and elaborating practical steps to that effect, and to call on all OIC Member States to fully implement their commitments under these OIC resolutions to compel Armenia to leave Azerbaijani territories and respect Azerbaijani sovereignty and territorial integrity.

In conclusion, dear colleagues, allow me to once again express our gratitude to the OIC Member States and the OIC Secretary General for their consistent support to the just cause of Azerbaijan and their efforts to bring the aggression of Armenia to an end.

Thank you.