NATO DEFENSE AND SECURITY COMMITTEE CONFIRMS FACT OF OCCUPATION BY ARMENIA OF AZERBAIJAN’S TERRITORIES

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Nov 16 2006

As reported, since November 11, the first vice-speaker of Milli Majlis,
the head of delegation of Azerbaijan in NATO Parliamentary Assembly
(NATO PA) Ziyafet Askarov and a member of the safety and defense
standing committee of the Parliament, Siyavush Novruzov have been
on a visit in the Canadian city of Quebec for participation in 52nd
annual session NATO PA.

One of the major questions of the agenda of session was the
prepared report on the countries of Southern Caucasus, and the
Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. This question has been
discussed at the session of Defense and Safety Committee of NATO PA
taken place on November 14 and corresponding decision was accepted.

As stated by Mr. Suyavush Novruzov, the session considered the
question of integration of the countries of Southern Caucasus in
the Euro-Atlantic space, including reports on Azerbaijan, Georgia
and Armenia.

Prepared earlier in subcommittee of NATO PA, the report on Azerbaijan
did not satisfy us, he said. "We repeatedly expressed our opinion on
the documents. After the meetings, held during stay of representatives
of Committee in Baku, the report was radically changed. I shall note,
that the document in this time reflected the fact of occupation
of 20 percent of the Azerbaijan territories, heavy life of more
than 1 million refugees and IDPs, and also driving of 200 thousand
Azerbaijanis from their native lands in the territory of Armenia, 4
Resolutions of UN Security Council on aggression of Armenia against
Azerbaijan. Along with that, the document also specifies the arsons
committed by Armenians in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. This
is an only document where the concrete figures contain all the moments
connected to the conflict.

>From 26 states-participants possessing the vote, 25 have voted at
session for acceptance of the given document".

The document especially notes the role of Azerbaijan in energy
safety of Europe. Though the Armenian party lifted the far-fetched
"genocide" question again, it has been completely excluded from the
text of the document.