Baku, Yerevan react to celebration of 30th anniversary of Azerbaijan's UN accession in Shusha
UN representatives’ visit to Shusha/i
In the city of Shusha (Armenians call this city Shushi), which returned under the control of Azerbaijan as a result of the second Karabakh war, an event has been held in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the country’s accession to the UN. Representatives of the United Nations stationed in Baku also attended it. Yerevan protested against the holding of this event in Shusha and the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry did not leave Armenia’s reaction unanswered.
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What happened?
On March 18, a delegation of the Azerbaijani government headed by Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and presidential aide Hikmet Hajiyev, together with UN officials stationed in Baku, set off for Shusha.
The participants of the event went to the city, located in Karabakh and returned under the control of Azerbaijan as a result of the 44-day war in the fall of 2020, through Fizuli airport.
Fizuli airport is one of the three airports that Azerbaijan planned to build in the territories returned under its control. Construction has also begun on an airport in the Zangilan region, and another one will be built in the Lachin region.
“We are flying to Fuzuli airport on a Khankendi plane to visit Shusha together with UN representatives accredited in Azerbaijan. The 30th anniversary of Azerbaijan’s accession to the organization will be celebrated in Shusha together with the institutions of the United Nations. The UN flag will be flown in the liberated Shusha!”, Hikmet Hajiyev tweeted.
UN Resident Coordinator in Azerbaijan Vladanka Andreeva delivered a speech at the event in Shusha.
After the event, its participants got acquainted with the city and took pictures at the main entrance to the Shusha fortress.
Note of protest from Armenian MOFA
The Armenian Foreign Ministry issued a note of protest in connection with the involvement of the UN in the event organized in Shusha (Shushi). It was presented on March 19 to Lila Pieters Yahya, Acting UN Resident Coordinator in Armenia.
During the meeting at the Armenian Foreign Ministry, she was told that “the Foreign Ministry of Armenia strongly condemns the involvement of the UN Office in Azerbaijan in the event organised in Shushi on March 18”.
The message on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also says that “the Foreign Ministry demanded that the United Nations take steps to restore the neutral position of the UN in the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict”.
Reaction from the unrecognized NKR
Earlier, the holding of this event by Azerbaijan was also condemned by the authorities of the unrecognized NKR.
The Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that Baku, “in its usual style, continues its destructive policy aimed at legitimizing the results of its aggression against Artsakh”.
“The participation of UN representatives in the event organized in the city, which was one of the main targets of Azerbaijani aggression and the policy of Armenophobia, contradicts the basic principles of activity, ideology and mission of this authoritative international organization. Undoubtedly, this action will be used by Azerbaijan to legitimize its misanthropic and aggressive policy. It will also deal a serious blow to the reputation of the UN, which will negatively affect the effectiveness of the organization”, the statement said.
Azerbaijani MOFA’s response
“The organization of any event on its sovereign territory by Azerbaijan and the participation of international representatives in this event is not a matter within the jurisdiction of Armenia”, said Leyla Abdullayeva, head of the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, commenting on the protest of the Armenian side.
“Armenia’s interference in the internal affairs of another state is unjustified and unacceptable.
The continuing territorial claims of Armenia against Azerbaijan show that the country has not drawn the proper conclusions from the 44-day war. This position of the Armenian Foreign Ministry is nothing more than an attempt to impede the joint peacekeeping efforts of Azerbaijan and the leading members of the international community in the region.
We bring to the attention of the Armenian Foreign Ministry that Shusha is the original territory of Azerbaijan. This city, the cradle of Azerbaijani culture, along with other territories, was liberated in 2020, and our territorial integrity was restored. The UN has never taken a neutral position on the ongoing Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, on the contrary, it supported the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan in resolutions adopted by the General Assembly and the Security Council. In this regard, it is not clear what “neutral status” the Armenian Foreign Ministry is calling for.
In conclusion, we would like to repeat that the sooner Armenia accepts the realities of the post-conflict period in the region, the more beneficial it will be for Yerevan”, Abdullayeva stressed.
Reaction of Nagorno-Karabakh residents
Shushi (Shusha) is of particular importance for Armenians; the especially revered Cathedral of the Holy Christ the All-Savior Ghazanchetsots is located there. A resident of Stepanakert (in Azerbaijan this city is called Khankendi) Gevorg Sargsyan fashioned a model of it from the snow to protest against visiting Shushi by UN representatives.
Now a video of this snowy cathedral is actively spreading on Armenian segment of social media.
Ghazantsetsots is the cathedral of Shushi, the center of the “Artsakh Diocese” of the Armenian Apostolic Church. During the war, it was shelled, the domes were badly damaged. Azerbaijan undertook to restore the cathedral without consultations and involvement of the Armenian Apostolic Church in these works, which provoked a protest from the Armenian side.
