Armenia’s Foreign Ministry has slammed as pro-Azerbaijani, the declaration adopted by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) regarding the conflict between Yerevan and Baku.
The OIC ministers adoped a declaration at a weekend meeting in Istanbul, advising Armenia to “desist from undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan” and “address the remaining legal and political obstacles” to an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal. The signatories of the declaration voiced support for Baku’s demand for the return of Azerbaijanis who lived in Armenia until the late 1980s when the conflict between the two South Caucasus countries broke out. The OIC ministers condemned what they described as “Armenia’s refusal to engage in dialogue with the Western Azerbaijani Community.”
In a statement, on June 23, Armenia’s Defence Ministry slmamed the OIC’s resolutions as “distorted and highly one-sided,” stating they “contradict the logic and interests of long-term peace in the region.” The denounced the use of “Western Azerbaijan” terminology as an indirect territorial claim against Armenia.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls on the member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation that have joined the aforementioned declaration and resolutions to review and resolutely reject biased initiatives that target Armenia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty and jeopardize the normalization process between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” the statement reads.
It should be noted that The OIC includes 56 countries, among them Armenia’s neighbours—Turkey, Azerbaijan and Iran—as well as four CIS states: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
