Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 20
By Anahanum Khidayatova - Trend:
The conflicts which are being discussed today at the PACE Spring Session could have been prevented if there was a timely corresponding reaction on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, head of Azerbaijani delegation Samad Seyidov said during his speech at the PACE Spring Session in Strasbourg.
"The Council of Europe should respond immediately to all arising problems," Seyidov said. "Even today, people are dying as a result of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict."
He said that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is considered frozen, but it is not so. "The Council of Europe should pay more attention to this conflict, even Armenian soldiers do not want to go to war," Seyidov said. "Recently, one of soldiers of the separatist regime's army voluntarily surrendered to the Azerbaijani side."
He went on to add that Armenia should withdraw its troops from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, "it is the only path to peace."
"I hope that the report on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which will be submitted to PACE, will reflect all the realities of the conflict, the problems of occupation and the presence of a million internally displaced persons," Seyidov said.
Contract serviceman of Armenian armed forces Andranik Grigoryan voluntarily surrendered to the Azerbaijani side on March 22.
During the interrogation, Grigoryan said he surrendered to the Azerbaijani side because he feared a senseless death. The Armenian soldier also said that one more serviceman was also planning to surrender to the Azerbaijani side.
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.
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