Speech of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev at the ceremony held in the building of the Parliament devoted to the visit of the Secretary-General of the UNO Boutros Boutros Ghali to Azerbaijan - 31 October, 1994

Distinguished Secretary-General, Doctor Boutros Boutros Ghali, esteemed members of the Parliament and representatives of the press.

Secretary-General of the United Nations Organization Mr. Boutros Boutros Ghali is in Azerbaijan on an official visit. The official visit of Mr. Boutros Boutros Ghali to our republic, as well as his meetings and detailed talks with us are the demonstration of care, respect and kind attitude to the independent Azerbaijan and Azerbaijani people by such an authoritative organization as the United Nations Organization and personally by Mr. Boutros Boutros Ghali.

Mr. Boutros Boutros Ghali has just made a very interesting and significant speech in the Azerbaijan parliament before the representatives of the community of our republic covering the activity of the United Nations Organization and the importance attached by this international organization to the sovereignty of Azerbaijan and its place as an independent state in the world community.

Distinguished Mr. Boutros Boutros Ghali, on my behalf and on behalf of the Azerbaijani Republic, I express my deep appreciation and gratitude for Your visit to Azerbaijan and for the fruitful work here, as well as for Your today`s speech and the attention devoted to the Azerbaijani people.

Mr. Doctor Boutros Boutros Ghali spoke about the 49-year activity of the UNO and the work done by this organization as regards ensuring peace, security and prosperity in the world, as well as its achievements in this line.

The people of Azerbaijan and the independent Republic of Azerbaijan highly appreciate the activity of the UNO, accept with great satisfaction the speech of Boutros Boutros Ghali today and realize that within 49 year the United Nations Organization has fulfilled great work having ensured the appropriate conditions of life of the world. Among all the organizations which existed in the world history before instituting the UNO, the United Nations Organization has attained the highest achievements and become the most efficient organization having proved how much all the countries and nations need it. That is why, it has gained the esteem and respect in the entire world. From the very outset of its existence, within the period of "cold war", while heading toward its elimination, as well as after it, the United Nations Organization has carried out great work for the sake of good of people and the world countries.

After the end of the "cold war", very complicated and important objectives arose before the UNO. The structures of the UNO expanded with time and it played a great role in gaining independence by separate countries and nations. If in the period of its establishment, this organization included 50 states, today, it unites more than 180 states and countries. Within the recent years, the UNO has fulfilled a significant work towards the prevention of conflicts among states, contradictions among nations and elimination of these conflicts.

Azerbaijani people and Azerbaijan highly appreciate the activity of the UNO, in particular, its achievements within the last periods, as well as the activity of the Secretary-General of this organization, Mr. Boutros Boutros Ghali. Three years ago the Azerbaijani Republic gained the state independence and in the January 1992 it joined the United Nations Organization. Over this period, our republic and our people have always felt the care and kind attitude of the UNO. Taking the opportunity, I express my appreciation for all this to the United Nations Organization and its Secretary General on behalf of the Azerbaijan Republic and Azerbaijan people.

The attainment of freedom by the Azerbaijani people and independence by the republic, as well as the fact that the Azerbaijani Republic has become a member of the UNO is an historical event for us. Today, I want to state once more again that the Azerbaijan people will never cede its independence. Our republic will strengthen and develop its independence from day to day. We have repeatedly stated and today in the presence of the Secretary-General of the UNO, I want to state once more that the Azerbaijani Republic has set democratic principles as a basis of its internal and foreign policy, it will act based upon them and take a worthy place in the world society. We follow the way of construction of a democratic state in our republic by instituting democratic, legal and civil society and through establishing human freedoms, freedom of speech and political pluralism in Azerbaijan. We strive for directing and developing the economy of Azerbaijan towards the market economy. I am confident that the strategic way chosen by us meets the interests of the Azerbaijani people and it will promote the integration of our people and our republic into the world community and world economy.

Azerbaijan has been living in the state of war for already six years. It is subjected to the military aggression by the Republic of Armenia, suffers great losses and faces great difficulties. The socio-political situation in Azerbaijan has also been unstable within this period. Some forces inside Azerbaijan and beyond it have attempted to break the stability in the country and sow chaos. These forces tried to undermine the independence of Azerbaijan and split the country. However, the last events, especially, the defeat of forces that made an attempt of coup d'etat on October 4, as well as national and civil solidarity of the Azerbaijani people and their resoluteness to protect the statehood have proved once again that no one can disrupt the independence of the Azerbaijani people who are able to defend their own independence and state system. And they will follow the chosen way with even greater persistence.

During the events at the beginning of October, in the period of tension arisen due to the attempt of some forces to commit a coup d`etat, the Azerbaijani people showed their wisdom to the entire world. The large states of the world, as well as the UNO upheld the state independence of the Azerbaijani Republic and spoke for the maintenance of the legitimate power in Azerbaijan.

The Azerbaijani people endure a difficult period of their history. The republic faces huge problems. The country suffers a deep socio-economic crisis. The Azerbaijani Republic lives in the state of war. As a result of the aggression by Armenia 20 per cent of the Azerbaijani lands have been occupied. More than a million Azerbaijanis driven out from the seized territories have become refugees.

We are confident that the Azerbaijani people and Azerbaijani state will overcome and overstep all these difficulties and our independent republic will henceforward work more intensively in this direction.

The most difficult and complicated problem of our life is to lead out Azerbaijan from the state of this war and suppress the aggression against our republic. These issues were thoroughly discussed these days with the Secretary-General of the UNO Mr. Boutros Ghali. I am satisfied with these negotiations and want to express hope that definite steps will be taken to save Azerbaijan from the aggression by Armenia and ensure peace and order, as well as create secure conditions for Azerbaijan and restores its territorial integrity. The United Nations Organizations, its Security-Council and personally Secretary General Boutros Ghali did much for the solution of these issues.

As you know, the Security Council of the UNO has adopted four resolutions the Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan and occupation of the Azerbaijani lands. The resolutions require unconditional withdrawal of the occupation forces from Azerbaijani lands, its territorial integrity and inviolability of its borders.

Unfortunately, the resolutions of the UN Security Council and a number of statements of the Secretary-General of the organization Mr. Boutros Ghali were not followed by the Armenian party either.

But despite all this, the UNO and in particular, Mr. Boutros Ghali continues the activity in this direction. During my meetings with Mr. Boutros Ghali at the beginning of September in Cairo and then in New-York and Baku during his official visit to Azerbaijan, I was assured that the UNO and its Secretary General Mr. Boutros Ghali would carry out their activity towards the restoration of peace and security and stop the aggression by Armenia against our republic.

During the negotiations, Mr. Boutros Ghali repeatedly stated about the invariability of principles reflected in the UN resolutions and that this international organization would henceforth continue its activity based on these principles. These principles are as follows: ensuring territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, inviolability of its borders, non-admission of violation of the borders of one state by another, violent seizure of its territory and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories.

Mr. Boutros Ghali has repeatedly stated that these principles are steady and the UNO will act on their basis in future.

Azerbaijan has always conducted a peaceful policy. And for the sake of this, we have undertaken and will undertake all the steps to follow out this policy, to put an end to the war and establish conditions of peace and security in the region. To that end, we have been using all the possibilities of the international organizations, including the UNO, OSCE and its Minsk Group, the initiatives of separate countries, including the USA, Russia, Turkey, and especially the mediatory efforts of Russia within the last period. We use and will continue to use all this. As a result, the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan has been ceased, i.e. a cease-fire regime has been established. Today, we do our utmost to maintain the cease-fire regime and we will strive for it henceforth. We will remain devoted to our relevant statements. Today, during the period of the cease-fire regime, we consider it necessary to conclude agreements on lasting peace and we appealed to all the international institutions in this regard. Our terms for cessation of the war and establishment of a lasting peace are simple: unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, ensuring the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and return of refugees to their native lands.

The Armenian armed forces should leave all our regions, including Lachin and Shusha. Only then these issues can be settled, it is possible to discuss the status of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the security of the Armenian population residing there. All these issues should be solved as a complex. We will be able to achieve long-term peace in the region only under these conditions.

I stress once again: our basic term is the unconditional liberation of the territories occupied by the armed forces of Armenia and return of over a million refugees to the places of their permanent residence.

I want to express hope that the UNO and its Secretary-General Mr. Boutros Ghali will make all the efforts to render assistance to Azerbaijan based on the negotiations held here.

I highly appreciate the activity of the United Nations Organization in the humanitarian field, including the activity of the Supreme Commissariat of the UNO on refugees in Azerbaijan, and I highly appreciate the activity of the UN representation in Azerbaijan.

I have asked Secretary-General Mr. Boutros Ghali once again to take measures for rendering humanitarian aid to Azerbaijan taking into account its hard socio-economic situation - the Secretary General has seen it himself and having met the refugees, he has witnessed the hard conditions they live in.

Thus, having shortly described today`s situation of our republic to Mr. Boutros Ghali, I want to express hope that the United Nations Organization and personally its Secretary General Mr. Boutros Ghali will henceforth render assistance to our republic in the name of strengthening the independence of Azerbaijan, for ensuring its territorial integrity and for putting an end to the state of war, as well as for the establishment of peace and order in the region on the whole.

On behalf of the citizens of Azerbaijan I express once more deep respect and tribute to all the bodies of the UNO and Secretary-General of this organization Mr. Boutros Ghali. Mr. Boutros Ghali is a well-known public and political figure in the world, a prominent scientist, and he has gained deep respect in the world as the Secretary General of the UNO. I highly appreciate his visit to our republic and want to express the confidence that Mr. Boutros Ghali will continue his fruitful activity as the Secretary-General of the United Nations Organization for many long years and make all efforts for the establishment of peace and order on the planet and will not spare efforts to ensure territorial integrity and independence of Azerbaijan.

Mr. Boutros Ghali!

I wish you success at Your high post and in your activity which is of great significance for all the world. And I also wish you happiness in your private life.

You are welcome to our country and we say good bye to you with friendly and kind feelings.