Azerbaijan, Baku, November 18 / Trend, S. Agayeva /
Switzerland does not recognize "Nagorno Karabakh's independence" and never questioned Azerbaijan's territorial integrity, the Swiss Foreign Ministry reported.
"The Foreign Ministry of Switzerland has appealed to the Azerbaijani Embassy to Switzerland and stated that the declaration initiated in the PACE is not the official position of the Swiss State and Parliament," Elman Abdullayev, Press Secretary of the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan, told Trend on Friday.
As reported earlier by Armenian media, 32 deputies of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) allegedly including a Swiss deputy some days ago signed up to a statement devoted to the 20th anniversary of Nagorno Karabakh breakaway regime's independence.
"Switzerland hopes for a progress in the process of finding a negotiated solution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict," the Swiss Foreign Ministry reported.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven 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.