Each and every action by Azerbaijan to restore its territorial integrity and sovereignty, including the latest 24-hour counter-terrorism measures, were in line with norms and principles of international law, Aykhan Hajizada, spokesperson for Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry, said on Wednesday.

He was commenting on remarks by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on the current regional situation and on the obligation to protect the human rights of ethnic minorities, News.Az reports.

Hajizada stressed that Azerbaijan has been always committed to the protection of civilians and civilian objects within its conducted actions.

“Despite the fact that during almost 30 years of Armenia’s military occupation Azerbaijanis, facing massacres and mass atrocities were deprived of all their rights, Azerbaijan has always been committed to safeguarding the rights of all the ethnic minorities in its territory, including of Armenians. This has been vocally expressed by Azerbaijan’s leadership on numerous occasions,” he said.

“Unfortunately, no one also called to uphold the rights of around a million Azerbaijani refugees and displaced people, including ensuring their rights to return in safety and dignity. While Azerbaijan both after the 44-day war and following the anti-terrorism measures provides assistance to find whereabouts of missing persons, we do not see the same attention and scrupulosity with regard to almost 4000 missing Azerbaijanis,” the spokesperson added.

Hajizada said Baku hopes the calls of the High Commissioner to conduct transparent investigations to ensure accountability and redress for the victims will be taken seriously by the international community, who ignored calls of Azerbaijan for almost 30 years to punish perpetrators of the genocide in Khojaly, other massacres and crimes against humanity.

“We also expect Armenia, following this call by the UN High Representative, not to deny the rights of Azerbaijanis massively expelled from the current territory of Armenia, and ensure conditions for a dialogue to ensure their rights to return to their homes,” he concluded.

News.Az