"The situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan" issue was included in the agenda of the regular session of the UN General Assembly on November 23. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Eldar Mamedyarov introduced the relevant draft, while the Turkish and Pakistani representatives Altay Cengizer and Masood Khalid delivered parallel speeches. US representative Ms. Susan Moore gave a speech on behalf of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen.

The Permanent Representative of the Republic of Armenia to the UN, Ambassador H.E. Armen Martirosyan, presented the Armenian position on the issue. He implicated the propagandist essence of the Azeri proposal by recalling that from the very beginning the idea of including the issue on the GA's agenda did not have the support of most countries. The MG co-chairmen also declared their opposition, considering it both destructive and inappropriate.

"Azerbaijan tries to present its resolution from the perspective of human rights and humanitarian law," stated A.Martirosyan. "And it is accomplishing by the country which has violated these laws itself - planned and systematically carried out massacres of Armenians in Baku, cities of Sumgait and Kirovabad from 1988 to 1990 during peacetime, tries to cloak its own actions by selective application of separate points of international humanitarian law. It limits the application of the return of refugees to "the area of conflict" and to ethnic Azeris only, conveniently leaving out the rights of over 400 000 Armenians under the same laws, particularly those from the immediate conflict zone from Shahumian, Getashen and Northern Martakert. Their homes today are fully confiscated and populated by ethnic Azeris,"- stated the Armenian representative.

"With this resolution Azerbaijan tries to dissect the issue of the so-called "occupied territories" from the whole package of negotiations. However, it fails to admit that those territories have come under the control of Nagorno Karabagh Armenians as a result of the war unleashed by Azerbaijan in an attempt to stifle the peaceful drive of the people of Nagorno Karabagh for self-determination," stated A. Martirosyan.

"Today those territories are serving as security belt around Nagorno Karabagh. Given the efforts for military suppression in the very recent past, as well as the war-mongering rhetoric of the current Azerbaijani leadership, the issue of those territories cannot be resolved unless there is a resolution on the status of Nagorno Karabagh, and security guarantees are provided," stressed A. Martirosyan.

In his speech Martirosyan stated again that Nagorno Karabagh has never been part of independent Azerbaijan. "The people of Nagorno Karabagh have proven their right to live freely and securely on their own territory both legally through a referendum conducted in 1991 in full conformity of the existing Soviet legislation of the time, and by defending this right in the war unleashed against its population by Azerbaijan," stated the Armenian ambassador. He said that the peace should be achieved, first and foremost, between Nagorno Karabagh and Azerbaijan, which has rejected and walked out of every single peace proposal made by the OSCE Minsk Group for the last six years.

"Azerbaijan is not interested in the peaceful resolution of the Nagorno Karabagh conflict," stated Martirosyan. "The increased belligerent rhetoric and incitement of anti-Armenian hatred in Azerbaijan clearly testifies to the true intentions of its current leadership. The present Azerbaijani motion aims at torpedoing the negotiations within the OSCE Minsk Group and diverting the international community's efforts into parallel processes, which would allow it to maneuver between them without committing to the final settlement of the conflict. Azerbaijan tries to use the United Nations and its General Assembly to do that, Azerbaijan's initiative to undo the peace process should not be supported."

The Assembly was then informed that action on the draft resolution on the situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan would be taken at a later date.