Baku has warned that the parliamentary elections held in the occupied Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-Karabakh on Sunday will hamper the ongoing attempts to resolve the dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan because the elections form part of Armenia’s strategy to impose a fait-accompli solution.
“The Republic of Azerbaijan shares the concerns of its international partners about the negative effect on the ongoing peace process by the illegal ‘parliament elections’ held in the occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan on May 23, 2010,” read a written statement released on Monday by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.
“The Republic of Azerbaijan shall never accept the fait accompli-based solution the Armenian side is trying to impose. The conflict in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan can only be solved on the basis of respect for territorial integrity, sovereignty and inviolability of the internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan and peaceful coexistence of the Armenian and Azerbaijani communities in the Nagorno-Karabakh region within Azerbaijan fully and equally enjoying the benefits of democracy and prosperity,” the ministry said.
On Sunday, the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) had called the elections in the dispute region “illegal” and in contravention of the Geneva Convention and resolutions of the UN Security Council, the OIC and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Calling on the international community to condemn this process and deem it illegitimate, the Jeddah-based OIC reiterated its support for Azerbaijan’s efforts toward a peaceful solution to the territory issue on the basis of the relevant international resolutions.
OIC-member Iran separately announced on Tuesday that it does not recognize the election results in Nagorno-Karabakh, while the Iranian Embassy in Baku emphasized that the country hadn’t delegated any representative or observer during the elections.
Today's Zaman
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
