The Armenian Foreign Ministry today denounced a resolution contained in the Istanbul Declaration adopted by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Turkey this week calling on Armenia “to cease and desist from undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan”, describing such language as biased and groundless.

“Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is deeply disappointed with the distorted and extremely one-sided formulations contained in the Istanbul Declaration adopted within the framework of the last ministerial conference of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the resolutions submitted at the initiative of Azerbaijan. The emphasis expressed in these documents contradict the interests and logic of establishing lasting peace in the region,” the ministry stated today.

The Istanbul Declaration, in part, voices support for Azerbaijan: “To rehabilitate and reconstruct the liberated territories, heavily impacted by Armenian aggression, and call on OIC member states to actively support Azerbaijan’s demining efforts, which are vital for ensuring safety, enabling reconstruction, and securing the dignified return of displaced persons.”

The Istanbul Declaration also: “Expresses deep concern over the destiny of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis forcibly and systematically expelled from the territory of the present-day Armenia and condemns the destruction and misappropriation of Islamic cultural heritage therein as a serious violation of international law.”

The Armenian Foreign Ministry, in response today, writes: “As for Azerbaijanis living in Soviet Armenia, they left Armenia voluntarily in the last years of the existence of the USSR, were able to sell or exchange their property or received compensation from the Armenian government. Unfortunately, the fate of Armenians in Azerbaijan was not the same in Baku, Sumgait, and other places, where massacres and forced displacement of Armenians took place, and the world witnessed a similar last manifestation in our region in 2023. in the fall of 2011, when more than 115,000 Armenians were forced to leave Nagorno-Karabakh, subjected to ethnic cleansing.”

The Istanbul Declaration also: “Reaffirms the inalienable right of expelled Azerbaijanis to peaceful, safe and dignified return to their places of origin in the territory of the resent-day Armenia in accordance with international law, and deplores Armenia’s refusal to engage in dialogue with the Western Azerbaijani Community, non-governmental organizations advocating for the restoration of the violated human right of the Azerbaijanis expelled from the territory of present-day Armenia.”

The Armenian Foreign Ministry says that any talk of “Western Azerbaijan” under the guise of human rights “is a clear territorial claim by Azerbaijan of the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia, which is documented even in the founding documents of the “organization” artificially formed for this purpose.

The ministry further calls on the member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which have joined the above-mentioned declaration and resolutions, to reconsider and resolutely abandon biased initiatives targeting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Armenia and jeopardizing the settlement process between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The OIC, founded in 1969, consists of fifty-seven members and claims to be "the collective voice of the Muslim world" and works to "safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony".