Top official: Ensuring human rights, freedoms - Azerbaijan’s ultimate goal

Baku, Azerbaijan, June 16 By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend: Ensuring human rights and freedoms, a decent standard of life of citizens are the highest goals of Azerbaijani state, said Ali Hasanov, the Azerbaijani president's aide for public and political affairs. He made the remarks June 16 during the hearings in the Milli Majlis (Parliament) of Azerbaijan dedicated to the Human Rights Day in the country. Independence means not only realization of Azerbaijani people's aspirations regarding statehood, but also an opportunity to secure human rights and freedoms, Hasanov added. "In early years of Azerbaijan's independence, the country saw massive human rights violations," he said. "Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan and with the help of its patrons occupied the country's Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts." "Thus, more than one million people became refugees and IDPs," Hasanov noted. "Unfortunately, a number of international organizations and states speaking under the slogan of human rights give no assessment to such a gross violation of the rights of more than one million citizens." The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.