BAKU: Baku Urges Europe To Take More Serious Nagorno-Karabakh Confli

BAKU URGES EUROPE TO TAKE MORE SERIOUS NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
May 23 2014

23 May 2014, 14:00 (GMT+05:00)
By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister called on the European countries to pay
more attention to Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“Europe must pay more attention to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,”
Elmar Mammadyarov said at a meeting of PACE Standing Committee in
Baku on May 23.

Mammadyarov said such a large number of refugees and conflicts in
the 21st century are unacceptable.

Since a lengthy war in the early 1990s that displaced over one million
Azerbaijanis, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent
of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territory, including
Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.

Though a fragile ceasefire has been in place since 1994, long-standing
efforts by US, Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless
so far.

Mammadyarov said Azerbaijan faces double standards when it comes to
implementation of UN resolutions on Karabakh.

“We see an obvious approach in the form of, I am not afraid of these
words, double standards. Some UN resolution just start running on
the day of adoption, while the UN resolutions on the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict have not been implemented for 20 years,” Mammadyarov stressed.

Noting that negotiations with Armenia will continue, Mammadyarov said,
this conflict is leading the region to nowhere and has undeniable
negative effects.

He said that the principles of resolving the conflict have already
been recognized.

“UN Security Council has adopted four relevant resolutions. Any
resolution on the Karabakh conflict must be based on the principles of
sovereignty and territorial integrity of the countries,” Mammadyarov
said.

He further said visiting the territory of a country without taking
permission of its authorities is impossible.

Azerbaijan has repeatedly stated that a visit to Nagorno-Karabakh
without the permission of the country is unacceptable.

“Karabakh is Azerbaijan’s territory, therefore we make a list
of persona non grata all, who violates this provision and visit
Nagorno-Karabakh without permission of the Azerbaijani authorities.

After a person’s explanation, we can reconsider this person’s inclusion
in the list,” Mammadyarov said.

While commenting on Azerbaijan’s presidency in PACE, Mammadyarov said
during the period Azerbaijan will hold several major international
events.

“The country will host 18 international events in the next six
months,” he added. “We intend to demonstrate maximum transparency and
openness. Meanwhile, the European countries must try to understand
each other, rather than argue” Mammadyarov said.

Mammadyarov added that during its presidency in PACE, Azerbaijan will
coordinate its activity with European partners.

Azerbaijan’s chairmanship of the committee started officially on May
14 and will end in November when the country hands it over to Belgium.

Also, speaking at the meeting, PACE President Anne Brasseur said
PACE takes an unequivocal position on the territorial integrity
of Azerbaijan.

She noted that the territorial integrity principle is one of the
fundamental values.

“We use it towards not only Ukraine’s issue but also towards
Azerbaijan. PACE and all European organizations must adhere to these
values,” Brasseur said.

She said PACE has already commented on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
passed a resolution and supported the territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan.

“Azerbaijan and Ukraine are not the only countries with territorial
integrity under a threat. I am talking about all so-called “frozen
conflicts” in Europe,” she said. “Regarding Ukraine, PACE will again
discuss the situation in this country after the presidential and
municipal elections.”

From: Baghdasarian