Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD: President of Azerbaijani Ilham Aliyev and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron discussed the latest situation in the Lachin district in Karabakh, via telephone, as reported by the Baku-based press service of the Azerbaijani president, on Friday.
According to the press report, the French president took the initiative and talked to his counterpart about relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the latest situation on the road leading to the city of Khankendi through the Lachin district of Azerbaijan.
According to the statement, the road towards the city of Khankendi through Lachin district of Azerbaijan, the head of state (Aliyev) found that members of the civil society of Azerbaijan protested against the illegal exploitation of mineral deposits in the country’s territories, where the Russian peacekeepers are temporarily deployed, resulting serious damage to the environment.
Aliyev stressed that nothing deters the use of the road for civil and humanitarian purposes and that the passage of medical vehicles is guaranteed through the area office of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Meanwhile, the president of Azerbaijan said that the major demand of the civil society members was to stop the illegal exploitation of mineral deposits and to guarantee environmental monitoring activities in the area.
Baku relations with Yerevan
Earlier in September 2020, Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a 44-day war over Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, along with seven nearby regions.
The war was ended by a Russia-brokered peace deal, resulting in the liberation of several cities and over 300 settlements and villages of Azerbaijan that were occupied by Armenia for about 30 years.
President of Azerbaijani Ilham Aliyev reminded Macron that Armenia still occupied eight villages that he claimed belonged to Azerbaijan and stressed the importance of “balanced and neutral behavior in relation to regional matters,” pointing out “anti-Azerbaijan actions in Francophonie and some other international organizations,” calling them “regrettable.”
