Baku, Azerbaijan, July 7
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
France has to keep the position of non-recognition of the occupation of Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region, as it is an illegal occupation by Armenia, Nathalie Goulet, French senator and vice-chair of the Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee, told Trend July 7.
Nathalie Goulet is among the French parliamentarians, who have signed the appeal to France’s president over the July 4 shelling of the Alkhanli village in Azerbaijan’s Fuzuli district by the Armenian armed forces. In this appeal, they urged the French president to exert pressure on Armenia.
“We have to start a process of sanctions, if we cannot bring Armenia to reason. We also have to ask international forces to keep security and cease fire on the front line. It's time to act,” said the senator.
It should be noted that on July 4 at about 20:40 (GMT+4 hours), the Armenian armed forces again violated ceasefire and, using 82-mm and 120-mm mortars and grenade launchers, shelled Azerbaijani positions and territories where the civilian population lives, namely the Alkhanli village of the country’s Fuzuli district, thereby grossly violating the requirements of international law, the Azerbaijani defense ministry said earlier.
As a result of this provocation, the residents of the village Sakhiba Guliyeva, 50, and Zakhra Guliyeva, 2, were killed. Servinaz Guliyeva, 52, who got wounded, was taken to the hospital and was operated on.
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 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
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