Azerbaijan's UK ambassador writes to Irish Times on Karabakh story

The sole reason why 95 per cent of the region’s population is ethnic Armenian is because ethnic Azerbaijanis, the indigenous population of the region, have been expelled from their homes and continue to suffer from continuing Armenian aggression and have been resettled as internally displaced people in other regions of Azerbaijan.

Nagorno Karabakh is not claimed by Azerbaijan; historically it has always been part of Azerbaijan and is an internationally recognised territory of Azerbaijan.

The attempts at distorting reality will not change the facts on the ground. It would be wrong to somehow attribute the situation to religion as there is no basis to support this claim. It is purely a territorial conflict, resulting from illegal claims of one nation to another nation’s sovereignty, and unless Armenian armed forces leave the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, a sustainable peace will not come to the region.

Azerbaijan’s willingness to compromise does not include infringement of its basic rights as a nation. – Yours, etc,

TAHIR TAGHIZADEH,

Ambassador of the

Republic of Azerbaijan,

Kensington Court,

London.