By Astghik Bedevian
YEREVAN (Azatutyun) — Armenia on Monday, June 23, accused countries making up the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) of questioning its territorial integrity after they urged Yerevan to accept Azerbaijan’s terms for ending the conflict between the two South Caucasus states.
In a joint declaration adopted at a weekend meeting in Istanbul, the foreign ministers of OIC member states said Armenia should “desist from undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan” and “address the remaining legal and political obstacles” to an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal.
They thus effectively backed the Azerbaijani preconditions for the signing of such a treaty finalized by the two sides in March. Those include a change of Armenia’s constitution.
The OIC declaration also backed Baku’s demands for Yerevan to ensure the return of Azerbaijanis who lived in Armenia until the outbreak of the conflict in the late 1980s. Its signatories said they “deplore Armenia’s refusal to engage in dialogue with the Western Azerbaijani Community.”
The Armenian Foreign Ministry said it is “deeply disappointed” with this stance described by it as “extremely one-sided.”
