Baku, Azerbaijan, May 18
By Seymur Aliyev - Trend:
There are double standards at the level of international law, Nathalie Goulet, the member of the French Senate's commission of foreign affairs and defense forces said at the 3rd World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue held May 18 in Baku.
"There are countries that are constantly using partial immunity and occupy the territories beyond their borders," said the senator.
Goulet added that under the increasing threat of terrorism in modern world, such an approach is unacceptable, and international community needs to reconsider its attitude towards the use of international law.
The senator recalled that 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory has been occupied by Armenia, and as a result of this, a million Azerbaijani citizens have become refugees and internally displaced persons.
Goulet also urged all the participants of the forum to sign an open declaration of the 3rd World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue.
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.