Ilham Aliyev called on Trump to review the decision on Jerusalem

Baku / 13.12.17 / Turan: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev expressed great concern over the "contradictory" norms of international law and UN Security Council resolutions by the decision of US President Donald Trump on recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and transferring the capital of Israel to this city.

"This decision has a negative impact on a just and comprehensive settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and can lead to dangerous consequences in the Middle East. We believe that the United States should reconsider this decision,"Aliyev said today at the extraordinary summit of the heads of state of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

Azerbaijan, he continued, consistently advocates a peaceful settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the basis of the principle of two states with the capital of the Palestinian state in East Jerusalem.

Several years ago, with the aim of providing financial assistance to the Palestinian state, Azerbaijan organized a constituent conference of the Islamic Financial Security Network and a donor conference for the development of the city of Jerusalem.

In July 2017 an international conference on Jerusalem was held in Baku with the participation of the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OIC and various non-governmental organizations. At the conference, statements were passed condemning the occupation of East Jerusalem by restrictions on believers in the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

"Today, as always, we are together with the Palestinian people," Aliyev said. He stated Azerbaijan's commitment to Islamic solidarity. He also touched on the Karabakh conflict, recalling that Armenia, which occupied Nagorno-Karabakh and seven regions around it, conducted ethnic cleansing in the occupied lands, destroyed mosques and other Islamic monuments, is trying to establish friendly relations with a number of Muslim countries. "This is the greatest hypocrisy. The world's Muslims should know that the destructive holy mosque of Armenia cannot be a friend of Muslims,"Aliyev said.

He recalled Armenia's refusal to comply with the four UN Security Council resolutions demanding the immediate, unconditional and complete withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the Azerbaijani territories.

"Azerbaijan will never tolerate the Armenian occupation. Settlement of the conflict is possible only within the territorial integrity and internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan," Aliyev said. -06D-