Israeli activist: Armenia to decide - to be part of region or continue to live in isolation

The love the Azerbaijani nation has for the liberated areas, the entire region and beyond will make it bloom and shine like never before, Nurit Greenger, an activist and journalist, founder of the Western Civilization Heritage Israel Program (CHIP), said in her article.

Greenger wrote the article after visiting the city of Shusha and talking with the special representative of the President of Azerbaijan in the liberated territories included in the Karabakh economic region (with the exception of the Shusha district), Emin Huseynov.

“Coexistence is the only way forward. Azerbaijan offers Armenia collaboration and peaceful coexistence with dignified face-saving. It is all up to Armenia to choose to be part of the region, enjoy good neighborly relations and thrive, or continue to live in total self-isolation, with a plummeting economy and rising poverty,” reads the article.

According to Nurit Greenger, Armenia claims to be a responsible member of the international community. However, in the three decades of its occupation of Azerbaijan’s land, it did not build one structure nor plant one tree in the territory.

“All Armenia managed to do was destroy; seven Azerbaijani cities and 900 villages were leveled to the ground during Armenia’s occupation. In almost 10,000 square km of territory, 4-5 times the area size of Los Angeles, every single house was demolished, brick by brick, by Armenians and sold, as construction materials, to Armenia and Iran.”

According to her words, during the occupation of Shusha, the Armenians “looted and burnt the city, desecrating and destroying mosques, shrines and other cultural heritage sites. Armenians dismantled and sold off historic dark bronze busts of three Azerbaijani musicians and poets from Shusha, and the gravestones in the Azerbaijani cemetery, on the edge of town, were methodically smashed and vandalized by Armenians.”

She noted that almost instantly after the liberation of its territories, Azerbaijan took up restoration and reconstruction and has already invested billions in this work.

Greenger stressed that for thirty long years, the Azerbaijani lands remained under occupation despite four resolutions by the United Nations Security Council that condemned Armenia’s occupation of Azerbaijani territories and demanded the withdrawal of Armenian troops, and despite the activities by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs (US, France and Russia) to mediate an acceptable peace treaty.