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“Azerbaijan has achieved great success in cooperation with the West over the past 22 years. We want to deepen this cooperation. The participation of NGOs in this process is important,” said Deputy Head of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration, Head of the Foreign Relations Department Novruz Mammadov while addressing the international conference on “Achievements and future prospects of NGO cooperation” organized by the Council of State Support to Non-Governmental Organizations under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Baku, APA reports.
Mammadov said NGOs established in the second half of the last century are of great importance today: “NGOs committed to building civil society have become important actors in international relations. In today’s world there are some NGOs that are functioning as political actors and they have impact on international politics. Processes taking place in the last 22 years are more typical. The world became a unipolar world after the Warsaw Pact was signed. What is happening? If analyzing, we can see who are responsible for the tension in the world today. NGOs also share responsibility for the tension arisen in the world.”
The department head stressed that Azerbaijan is among countries achieving great success in the post-Soviet space: “Azerbaijan cooperated with the West in the fight against international terrorism. Today, 40 percent of cargo is transported to Afghanistan through Azerbaijan. We are one of the countries having successful cooperation with the West in the political, economic and cultural fields.”
He noted that there would not have been such a tense situation, if everyone acted honestly: “After the collapse of the bipolar world, the West demonstrated geopolitical approach to all the processes basing on the interests and as a result of it such a tense situation occurred in the world. We can speak about the steps taken against Azerbaijan not for hours, but for days. For example, military exercises were conducted in the occupied Azerbaijani territories 5 days ago. I want to recall that Russia was conducting military exercises in the area 150 kilometers from the Ukrainian border a month ago. The West issued statements on the purpose of this exercise and threats it poses to others, held discussions. Why didn’t they demonstrate such an approach to the exercises conducted in the occupied Azerbaijani territories? Since 1994, Azerbaijan has banned flights over those areas and nobody remembers it. Why didn’t international NGOs comment on it? Even today, the Western media continues to distort information about the incident. Such processes are the main reasons for the tense situation around the world. Why should the separatist regime or Armenia conduct military exercises in the territory of Azerbaijan? We asked the West for a fair position on the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. Why cannot the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs take any successful step? Because, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs ignore the international law. They never talk about the four resolutions of the UN Security Council. Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts have been occupied and hundreds of thousands of people have been deprived of their fundamental rights. Why do not the international NGOs talk about it? All the states in the former Soviet Union intended to integrate into the West. However, those states now say that they don’t see warm relationship from the West,” he said.
Mammadov then noted that the Armenian president on the last day announced they are a member of another union despite Armenia had always stated until the last moment that it wants to sign an association agreement with the European Union.
“In Ukraine, Yanukovych was asking for a little time, but what is happening there? If there’s no justice in the world, it’s inappropriate to speak of international law. Azerbaijan is seriously concerned about this kind of issues. If the OSCE Minsk Group continues to work this way, we may try to do it with our own will. It’s our right. The military exercises were provocation against Azerbaijan. An Armenian military helicopter has several times flied over our soldiers, some of whom even managed to film,” he added.
Mammadov also mentioned the existence of some NGOs which are able to understand the essence of the ongoing geopolitical processes across the world.
Apa.az
