Head of EU diplomacy should be more involved in settlement of Karabakh conflict, says Goulet

By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy has to be more involved in resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said Nathalie Goulet, French senator and vice-chair of the Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee.

She made the remarks to Trend when commenting on the Annual Report on the implementation of the Common Foreign and Security Policy adopted by the European Parliament, with reference to the Eastern Partnership countries. The report for the first time reaffirmed EU's commitments to support the territorial integrity of all Eastern Partnership countries within their internationally recognized borders.

Goulet noted that the EU has finally made a statement supporting the territorial integrity of the Eastern Partnership states.

"We have now to wait the concretizations of this announcement," she said, stressing that the best would be strong decisions.

"Words are fine but I do prefer acts. I think the parliamentary diplomacy is a major tool. We have to work more together with the European Parliament and the MPs involved and knowledgeable on the question," Goulet added.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign state with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years.

Until now, Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region.