AZERBAIJANI FM: ALL INTERNATIONAL OBSERVERS IN SO-CALLED "PARLIAMENT ELECTIONS" IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH WILL BE DECLARED PERSONA NON GRATA
Trend
May 19 2010
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan will declare all international observers in the so-called
"parliament elections" in the Nagorno-Karabakh persona non grata.
"The so-called "parliament elections" to be held by the separatist
regime of the Nagorno-Karabakh are illegal and all international
observers wishing to observe the course of these "elections" will be
declared persona non grata. The Nagorno-Karabakh is Azerbaijan’s land
and anyone, who visited the area without Azerbaijan’s permission, is
declared persona non grata, and later he can not visit Azerbaijan,"
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Elkhan Polukhov told Trend
today.
The Nagorno-Karabakh’s Separatist regime will hold parliamentary
elections May 23.
The Armenian media reported that the former OSCE Special Representative
for South Caucasus and present representative of the Paris office
of the Institute for Democracy and Cooperation, Maurice Bono will
observe the "elections".
The Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry earlier made a statement on so-called
"parliament elections" in the Nagorno-Karabakh.
"Any kind of elections in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of the Republic
of Azerbaijan may be recognized as fair and free once the expelled
Azerbaijani population takes full, direct and equal part in their
conduct in lawful and democratic environment equally to the Armenian
population of the region. Holding such elections will be possible
after the withdrawal of the Armenian occupying forces, normalization of
life in the region, creation of necessary conditions for restoration
of the dialogue and cooperation between the Armenian and Azerbaijani
communities of Nagorno-Karabakh," the statement says.
"Conduct of such "elections" gravely violates the relevant provisions
of the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the norms and
principles of international law, since they are held in absence of
the original Azerbaijani population of the Nagorno-Karabakh region,
and, therefore shall have no legal effect whatsoever," the ministry
reported.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. –
are currently holding the peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the
occupied territories.
"If any individual is going to monitor the "parliamentary election"
in the Nagorno-Karabakh – it is his/her right, but the fact that
the former EU Special Representative for South Caucasus, a person
once endowed with quite a lot of power, who was supposed to deal
with the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict and the stabilization of situation in the South Caucasus,
causes surprising and doubt that he was ever objective while occupying
this post," Azerbaijani political scientist Fikret Sadikhov said.
That’s why for so many years we are fighting over the Nagorno-Karabakh
problem, namely diplomats such as Bono and others like he, took a
one-sided position and supported separatism in Azerbaijan and were
not interested in resolving the conflict and deoccupation of the
Azerbaijani territories, he said.
"In fact, it is a real reflection of the reality, which Azerbaijan
faced for many years, trying to solve this prolonged conflict
situation", Sadikhov said.