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The vital right of peoples to self-determination should be respected, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi stated during the ministerial meeting of D-8 Economic Cooperation Organization in Pakistan, Iranian Foreign Ministry’s official website said.

The Iranian FM, slamming the use of dual standards towards human rights in many countries, said, in part, “Democracy does not belong to some country or region and therefore the right of peoples to self-determination and their right to master their own fate is of vital importance. All efforts, which are aimed at overthrowing the order established by peoples on the basis of Constitution and democracy, should be rejected.”

The D-8 comprises Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt and Nigeria.

The modern phase of the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) conflict broke out in 1988, when, as a response to the peaceful demand for self-determination of the people of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), annexed to Soviet Azerbaijan in 1921, the Azerbaijani authorities carried out ethnic cleansing of Armenians – at first in the big cities of Azerbaijan, and then in Artsakh.
In September 1991 Artsakh declared independence, and, as a result, Azerbaijan exacerbated the violences and started large-scale military actions against Artsakh. After number of defeats on the frontlines, in May 1994 Azerbaijan was forced ask for a cease-fire from the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic).

Currently, the negotiations on the settlement of the conflict are being conducted under the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs (Russia, USA and France), based on the Madrid proposals, presented in November 2007.