Baku, Azerbaijan, March 13
By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:
The "parliamentary election" planned to be held by the separatist regime of Nagorno-Karabakh has no legal basis, Azerbaijan's first deputy speaker Ziyafat Asgarov told Trend on Mar.13.
He said neither the international organizations, nor other states and even Armenia itself do not recognize this "election".
It is absolutely meaningless, irrelevant "election", said Asgarov, adding that unfortunately, international organizations are silent about the issue.
"We have always been against such attitude and in our repeated appeals to OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries, other international organizations and states, we said that the issue won't be resolved with their recognition of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity or only by making statements," he said.
That's to say, such statements should be backed up by concrete actions to prove that the international law really works, Asgarov added.
The first deputy speaker said that unfortunately, these double standards were used and apparently, will be always used. "However, undoubtedly, as a state, Azerbaijan first of all relies on its power, its people and in the case of necessity, this issue will be resolved with the support of the Azerbaijani people and army."
Earlier, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said that the "parliamentary election" scheduled by the separatist regime of Nagorno-Karabakh for May 3 is illegitimate.
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hikmet Hajiyev said that the upcoming "election" violates Azerbaijani law and is aimed at undermining the negotiation process on the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.
Edited by SI