BAKU. Feb 17 (Interfax) - The economic siege on Armenia laid by Azerbaijan will not be lifted until Armenia gives back the occupied Azeri lands, Azeri presidential administration member Elnur Aslanov said.
"Baku will continue the economic blockade of Yerevan until Armenia, which currently makes territorial claims on Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey and has occupied Azeri lands, abandons its aggressive plans and launches a constructive policy towards its neighbors," the head of the Azeri presidential administration's political analysis and information support department said.
"Armenia, which has occupied 20% of the Azeri territory, is now making territorial claims on Turkey's Anatolia and Georgia's Javakheti," he said on Monday at a conference entitled "Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey: the Trilateral Union and the Future of Regional Politics", organized by the Azeri president's Center for Strategic Studies.
"We have never concealed that the severe politico-economic situation in Armenia is a result of the non-constructive policy of the administration of that country," Aslanov said.
He noted that Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey supported each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty.
"We would very much like the Armenian administration to join our regional and global projects. The time will come and we will hold similar events, conferences, with the participation of Armenian leaders in the presently occupied Khojaly, Shusha and Hankendi. This day will come. We are working on it," Aslanov stressed.
"It is a pity that a number of western international organizations are seeking to open the Armenian-Turkish border. We once again express our gratitude to the Turkish side, the official representatives of which have said many times that Ankara will not open the border with Armenia until the Karabakh conflict is resolved consistent with Azeri territorial integrity principles and the occupied Azeri lands are free," Aslanov concluded.