"EP's resolution reaffirms EU's position on recognition of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity"

European Parliament’s new resolution reiterated the EU position on the recognition of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity, referring to the provisions of a previous resolution, including the EU resolution on the need for EU Strategy for the South Caucasus, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Elkhan Polukhov told Trend.

"Despite the Armenian side’s attempts to conduct the wording of the resolution recommending a contact with the de facto authorities of the unrecognized entities, this wording was removed from the final resolution; a concern was expressed as well, regarding the violation of the rights of refugees and IDPs," he said.

The report that there is an amendment on call for establishing contacts with de facto authorities of the unrecognized territories contradicts reality, Azerbaijani Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium & EU Emin Eyyubov told Trend on Thursday.

"Indeed, the project of the resolution reflected such an amendment until this morning, but as a result of the voting at the EU plenary meeting, most deputies representing major parties voted against the amendment", Eyyubov said over the phone from Brussels.

The statement "de facto authorities of unrecognized territories" was eliminated from the resolution, Eyyubov said.

Several Armenian Mass Media correspondents reported that the EU Parliament has approved a resolution on "European neighborhood policy generalization", where all the programs and tendencies indicated an Eastern vector.

Based on their report, in its Article 48 the EU Parliament calls for consideration of the initiative and innovative approaches, establishing contacts with de facto authorities of unrecognized territories to assist civil culture development and dialogue with the local community.

"There were attempts to pass the amendment through the EU Parliament. But the MEPs once again showed the wise primary position, estimated the situation around the unsolved conflicts with political correctness and made a corresponding decision," Eyyubov said.

He added, that Azerbaijan welcomes the approval of the EU Parliament resolution and hopes it will assist in further development of European neighborhood policy, particularly, Eastern partnership.

"This in turn will bring Azerbaijan closer to the EU from the point of standards, legislation and other criterion adopted in Europe," Eyyubov said.


/Trend/