Nagorno-Karabakh conflict informally discussed in UN Security Council

Azerbaijan, Baku, June 2 / Trend M. Aliyev / Azerbaijan's permanent mission to the UN organized informal discussions on "Peaceful settlement of conflicts, their prevention and solutions: mediation, legal decision, and justice" (the Arria Formula Meeting) in the UN Security Council. Besides UN Security Council member-countries, the representatives of other UN member states, UN Secretariat, intergovernmental organizations, more than 120 representatives of civil society and scientific community attended the meeting, Azerbaijan's Permanent Mission to the United Nations told Trend today. Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov and professor at Cambridge University Malcolm Shaw participated as keynote speakers. While opening the meeting, Azerbaijan's permanent representative to the UN, Ambassador Agshin Mehdiyev said that the meetings aims to find the ways to resolve disputes peacefully, to prevent and resolve conflicts, to define the role of mediation in establishing peace on the basis of international law. Armenia's permanent representative to the UN also participated in the discussions. His speech contradicted the theme and spirit of the meeting. He tried to distort the speakers' statements. Regarding Azimov's statement on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Armenia's permanent representative said that there is no conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. He also accused Baku of hampering the attempts to resolve the conflict. In response, Azimov said that there is plenty of evidence indicating that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict arose between Azerbaijan and Armenia. It is enough to mention two of them. First, Armenian citizens serve in the Azerbaijani occupied territories and the documents of captured Armenian soldiers confirm this fact. Second, the Armenian President participates in the negotiations on the conflict settlement as a party to the conflict. Azimov said that Armenia was the only country which did not agree with the UN resolution "Peaceful settlement of disputes, strengthening the role of mediation in conflict prevention and settlement" in 2011. In this case, the Armenian representative's statements on the importance of mediation in resolving the conflict are surprising. Azimov touched upon the conflict situations, particularly the mediation efforts to resolve the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia and the main factors of successful mediation. Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at agency@trend.az