Ilham Aliyev attended the 7th Summit of the OSCE in Astana

The 7th summit of the OSCE was organized in Astana, Kazakhstan. 

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev attended the Summit.

The state and government leaders from 56 member and 12 partner countries, delegations and representatives of international organizations participated at the Summit.

President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, welcomed the head of delegations, including President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev at the “Independence” Palace, where the summit was taking place.

Before the commencement of the Summit, President Ilham Aliyev met with Federal Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, and President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon. 

Participants of the Summit had their photos taken together.

President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev opened the work of the 7th Summit of the OSCE. He stated that the world had already stepped into a new form of security. President of Kazakhstan called on the OSCE states to adopt a universal declaration in support of a world free of nuclear weapons. Nursultan Nazarbayev drew attention to the great opportunity, provided by the Summit, for discussion of the situation in Afghanistan, illegal migration, threat of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, global financial crisis, and other important issues. He noted that the number of OSCE institutions should increase in order to properly address the global challenges. 

Having touched upon the works carried out to strengthen the economic security of the institution, N. Nazarbayev offered to include additional "Maastricht plus" document to the Maastricht strategy. Another suggestion was made regarding the establishment of an economic forum. Also, a suggestion was put forth to create a disarmament forum. President of Kazakhstan noted the necessity of expanding the inter-religious dialogue and called for the participants to work together on a tolerance document for the new decade.   

The standing chairman of the OSCE, State Secretary of Kazakhstan and Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev expressed his gratitude to the participants for support of the main principles of the organization. Having talked about the works carried out during the chairmanship of Kazakhstan, K. Saudabayev put an emphasis on creation of dialogue between nations and religions. Enumerating the priorities of the organization, the current chairman of the OSCE also noted that the works conducted for the long-lasting conflicts gave a reason for optimism. K. Saudabayev said the OSCE chairmanship would pass on to Latvia and Kazakhstan would remain as an active participant of the OSCE.  

Then, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon gave a speech, mentioning that there is a strong need for establishment of peace and security around the world. Joint cooperation is more beneficial to achieve this. "The OSCE region is home to several protracted conflicts that urgently need a peaceful, negotiated solution. All people, including those living in disputed areas, rightly look to us for assistance," - said the UN Secretary General and added that he hoped that common position and cooperation of all international organizations regarding the troublesome issues would pave a way for resolution of existing problems. Ban Ki-Moon said the UN was satisfied with its cooperation with the OSCE and that both organizations held the same stance on prevention and resolution of existing conflicts and global threats.

Chairman of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Petros Efthymiou said that the organization of the first OSCE Summit in such magnitude in 11 years, in the times when there was a lack of mutual trust around the world, was an important step. He noted that the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE - one of the important institutions of the organization, was concerned about the protracted conflicts existing in the OSCE countries and that the OSCE worked hard on peaceful resolution of all conflicts.  

OSCE Chairman-in-Office Marc Perrin de Brichambau mentioned in his speech that the OSCE had been organized as a historical necessity and the ongoing summit indicated that new regions would be included into the cooperation. "Documents adopted at the summit would mark a new phase in the activities of the organization," - said the secretary general, adding that the cooperation of international organizations is important for ensuring the general security.   

Then, state and government leaders of other countries delivered speeches at the summit. They drew attention to the necessity of the OSCE activities for ensuring peace and security in Europe and around the world, protection of human rights, prevention of illegal circulation of terrorism and narcotics, and resolution of conflicts. Ensuring the principle of territorial integrity in resolution of conflicts, peaceful settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh and other conflicts were mentioned during the speeches.   

President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev delivered a speech at the OSCE Summit.

Speech by Ilham Aliyev at the VII OSCE Summit

- Mr. Chairman,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to President Nursultan Nazarbayev and all our Kazakh friends for excellent organization of this summit, warm hospitality and for chairing the OSCE throughout the year.

I’d like to draw Your attention to the issues of security in our region. The ongoing armed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan continues to represent a major threat to international and regional peace and stability.

As a result of the policy of ethnic cleansing conducted by Armenia against Azerbaijanis 20 % of the territory of Azerbaijan is under occupation, 1 mln. Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced persons on their own land.

Armenia continues to occupy not only Nagorno-Karabakh but also 7 other regions of Azerbaijan. Armenia destroyed our cities and villages, our homes and sacred places, graves of our ancestors and our mosques. They committed war crimes, genocide in Khodjaly where hundreds of civilians were killed by Armenian armed forces only because they were Azerbaijanis. Among the innocent victims of Khodjaly more than 100 were children.

Nagorno-Karabakh is a historic part of Azerbaijan. It is internationally recognized part of Azerbaijan. Today Armenia continues to use force to sustain the control over the occupied territories and to hinder the return of the IDPs to their homes. But nevertheless Azerbaijan was always and remains committed to the peaceful negotiations and still hopes that they will bring results. Solution to the conflict must be based only on the respect to the norms and principles of international law, implementation of 4 UN Security Council resolutions, decisions of OSCE, resolutions of European Parliament, the Council of Europe and other international organizations. But Armenia instead of negotiating in good faith with a view to finding a durable solution to the conflict as soon as possible, gives preference to its escalation with unpredictable consequences. Armenia permanently violates the cease-fire regime, conducts military trainings in the occupied territories, tries to rename the historical names of our occupied cities and villages. Armenia illegally settles civilians in the occupied territories, tries to make the situation irreversible and peace process meaningless.

Illegal activity by Armenia in the occupied territories was reflected in the report of the OSCE fact-finding mission to the region in 2005.

The way how Armenia behaves during the negotiation process leads us to the conclusion that Armenia does not want peace, doesn’t want to liberate occupied territories, but wants to keep the status-quo as long as they can and make negotiation process endless.

OSCE Minsk Group was created in 1992, negotiations are held for almost 20 years, but without any results.

Azerbaijan values the proposals that the Minsk Group Co-Chairing countries have elaborated over past six years within the Prague Process. We are ready to continue negotiations and to finalize them as soon as possible and to achieve a solution which will be based on the norms and principles of international law within the framework of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

Thank You.