Their status, according to international law, is illegal, said the Chairman of the Board of the Center of Analysis of International Relations Farid Shafiyev, commenting on the situation around the Armenians vacating Lachin District.
Shafiyev called our attention to the fact that despite all the commotion raised by Armenia and the diaspora, no one, apart from hardcore lobbyists, had shown any reaction to the current situation. None of the countries involved in the negotiation process has spoken out, because everyone understands that this is the territory of Azerbaijan, and it must return under Azerbaijan’s control. Moreover, it must return even in the scenario envisaged by the so-called Madrid principles, Shafiyev stressed.
According to Shafiyev, the debate on the Armenian side on whether “to burn or not to burn” the houses left behind in Lachin looks strange.
“If the Armenians do in Lachin what they did when they were leaving Kalbajar, we will have to take some tough actions, including military and legal ones. I think they are aware of this in Khankendi as well. As for the visit of the representative of the separatist regime Vitaly Balasanyan to Zabukh, accompanied by Azerbaijani officials, it is evident that the separatists are beginning to realize how hopeless the situation is. That is why the raging separatist Balasanyan himself is dealing with the withdrawal of the illegal settlers from Lachin. Sooner or later they will all realize that these territories will ultimately be back under Azerbaijan’s administrative control, including those that are now in the area of temporary responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping contingent,” the Chairman of the Board of the Center of Analysis of International Relations said.
Leyla Tariverdiyeva
Translated from Day.Az