OSCE PA urged to openly declare position on Karabakh conflict

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly must openly tell Armenia in connection with Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that it will not agree with preserving the status quo and legitimizing the occupation, member of Azerbaijani delegation to the OSCE member, MP Azay Guliyev said at the OSCE PA session in Monaco on Friday.

"While continuing the occupation of Azerbaijani lands, Armenia violates all international conventions and regulations," he added. "Azerbaijan wants to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh problem within the international norms and waits for a similar attitude from the opposite side."

He delivered speech after Lithuanian MP Vilia Aleknayte-Abramikene's report on "OSCE - changing area".

Guliyev said that Vilia Aleknayte-Abramikene is absolutely right that the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict causes tension on the contact line and the entire region.

Lithuanian MP offers first to withdraw snipers and adhere to the ceasefire agreement and urges to conduct a detailed investigation during the incidents.

"The Azerbaijani side has agreed to establish a mechanism of investigating the incidents occurring on the contact line," Guliyev said. But logically, this mechanism can work only after Armenian troops are withdrawn from Azerbaijani territories. If this happens, there will be no need for snipers. On the other hand, I would like to ask the speaker why are Armenian snipers on the Azerbaijani territory? I ask to clarify this issue."

The ceasefire regime has been recently often violated on the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops. Both sides have losses.

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 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.


/Trend/