Azerbaijan protests Armenian accession to Customs Union

Azerbaijan is against Yerevan's accession to the Russia-led Customs Union before Armenia withdraws its armed forces from the occupied Azeri territories, Ali Hasanov, chief of the public policy department at the presidential office, said yesterday. "It would be against international law if Armenia, the country that has occupied Azeri lands including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts joins any union or association," Hasanov said."It is commonly known that relevant resolutions and decisions by the UN, the OSCE and other authoritative international organizations have confirmed the fact of the occupation of Azerbaijani territory by Armenia and demanded unambiguously that the territory occupied by the aggressor country be freed. Therefore, Armenia's accession to the Customs Union or any other similar body is possible only after the liberation of the occupied Azeri lands," he said.

Otherwise, at the moment of Armenia's accession to any union, its territory and borders will violate international jurisdiction because of the violation of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity, he said.

ANN.Az