Azerbaijan Calls on UN to Reaffirm its ‘Territorial Integrity’
ArmRadio.am
18.08.2006 14:03
The Azeri government, on August 4, submitted an appeal to the United
Nations urging the international body to reaffirm that country’s
territorial integrity as it relates to the liberated territories that
border the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.
Armenia’s representative in the UN Armen Martirosyan told Radio Free
Europe that the document also categorizes Nagorno-Karabakh as part of
Azerbaijan and calls on the international community to condemn recent
forest fires on the bordering regions of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.
Los Angeles based Asbarez daily has reported that several weeks that,
after conducting a full investigation of allegations that Armenians
from Karabakh were setting the forest fires, the OSCE determined that,
in fact, the fires were being set by Azeris.
Martirosyan announced that Armenia has already submitted its position
on the Azeri appeal and is working with UN-member states. He added
that during the last session of the UN, an agreement was reached
that status of Nagorno-Karabakh would not be addressed with the UN,
since OSCE Minsk Group is continuing its conflict resolution process.
"If Azerbaijan continues to pursue discussions and the matter is
placed for a vote [in the UN] then Armenia has the right to pull
itself out of the peace process," stressed Martirosyan.
The UN representative added that Azerbaijan’s strategy will play a
great role in determining the outcome of this appeal. "If Azerbaijan
chooses to push forward with this matter, it signals that it has
reservations about the conflict resolution process."
In 2004, Azerbaijan attempted–but failed–to address this issue in
the UN, by alleging that Armenia had adopted a policy to resettle
the liberated territories.
In a November 2004 interview with RFE/RL, Martirosyan said the
territories are serving as a security belt around Nagorno-Karabakh
as a response to what he called the "war-mongering rhetoric" of the
Azeri leadership."The issue of those territories cannot be resolved
unless there is a resolution on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh and
security guarantees are provided," Martirosyan said.
The then US co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Susan Moore said the
Minsk process is the best forum for resolving the dispute. She said
efforts should be focused on building confidence between the two
sides and avoiding divisions in the General Assembly.
"Azerbaijan is raising specific concerns linked to the situation in
Nagorno-Karabakh," Moore said at the time. "We believe these concerns
can be fully addressed in the existing format. As a first step an
OSCE fact-finding mission could be considered as a means to address
this issue."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
