The Republic of Armenia kept 20 percent of our country's lands under occupation for nearly 30 years. I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to ECO member countries for their principled position and support of Azerbaijan’s fair cause during the occupation and at the subsequent stage. During this period, Armenia committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, carried out ethnic cleansing out, and our territories were used for growing and transporting narcotics and training international terrorists,” said President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev as he sent a letter to the participants of the 4th meeting of Prosecutors General of the ECO member states.

“After these territories were liberated from occupation in 2020, Azerbaijan faced other challenges. The cities and villages of our country were deliberately razed to the ground and looted by Armenia, all cultural and religious monuments were destroyed, mosques were desecrated and looted. About 4,000 people went missing during the First Karabakh War and in subsequent periods, and the other has yet to provide information about their fate. Armenia has planted about a million landmines in our occupied territories and committed the crimes of urbicide, culturicide and ecocide. As soon as the occupation ended, our state mobilized all its resources and began extensive construction and restoration work in these areas, eliminating the consequences of Armenian vandalism,” the head of state noted.

“ECO was one of the first organizations the Republic of Azerbaijan became a member of after regaining its independence. It is gratifying that, as an active member of ECO, our cooperation with member states of the organization, based on friendship and mutual respect, is also developing successfully within the framework of international platforms,” President Ilham Aliyev underlined.