The Minister of Defense of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov, is on a working visit to the Russian Federation. He took part in the regular meeting of the Council of Defense Ministers of the participating countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member held on September 4 in Moscow.
Colonel General Zakir Hasanov brought to the meeting participants' attention that the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has been going on for many years, more than a million our compatriots have become refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs).
The Azerbaijan Defense Minister stressed that the occupation of 20 percent of our territories by a CIS member state contradicts international law's norms and principles, including the norms and spirit of this Commonwealth.
The Minister of Defense, noting that Armenia's large-scale provocation in the direction of the Tovuz region on the Armenia-Azerbaijan state border poses a threat to regional security, at the same time emphasized that official Yerevan aims to harm relations between Azerbaijan and the CIS member states.
At the end of the meeting, a joint statement was signed in connection with the Victory's 75th anniversary in the Great Patriotic War and the end of World War II.
The Defense Ministers who signed the statement commented on several issues and reaffirmed their commitment to the UN's goals and principles, the norms of international law, and the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.