Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 10 / Trend , T.Hajiyev /
The Swedish-Azerbaijani Academic Society (SAAS) announced that a motion for resolution about the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territories has successfully been laid in the Swedish parliament.
The document is about the withdrawal of the Armenian military forces from occupied Azerbaijani land areas and of the rights of the Azerbaijani refugees to return to their homes. The motion was laid by the renowned and influential Member of Parliament, Mehmet Kaplan, who is currently the group leader for the Green Party in the Parliament.
The motion for resolution describes the background of the conflict and points out that the war was triggered by the separatist aspirations of the Armenians in the Republic of Armenia and in Nagorno-Karabakh, and that the war has led to over 1 million Azerbaijani refugees. Furthermore it is stated that there are several reports on how both the Republic of Armenia and the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic has committed egregious violations of international law. Such crimes include forced displacements, looting and burning of homes, kidnapping, and hostage taking, beatings and summary executions of prisoners of war and indiscriminate use of air force against civilians. The Khojaly massacre is mentioned as an example of these well documented war crimes.
Moreover resolutions from the UN, EU and PACE is referred to in which it is clarified that the international community affirms Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and demand an immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all Armenian forces from the occupied territories and that all displaced persons should be able to return to their homes.
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 and the surrounding regions.