NO RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT AND KOSOVO – AZERBAIJANI MP
Trend News Agency
Jan 22 2008
Azerbaijan
France, Strasburg, 22 January / Trend corr A. Maharramli / There
is no resemblance between the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and other
conflicts ongoing in the post-Soviet area.
"The historical roots of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict do not
have resemblance to others," MP Ganira Pashayeva, a member of the
Azerbaijani delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe (PACE), said at a PACE meeting during discussions over the
future status of Kosovo on 22 January.
The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began
in 1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since
1992, Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including
the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts. In
1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which
time active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding peaceful
negotiations.
On January 2005, PACE passed Resolution 1416 in regards to the
Nagorno-Karabakh problem. The Resolution says that Armenia occupies
Azerbaijani territories. It also contains suggestions on settling
the conflict. PACE established a sub-committee on control over
implementation of the document.
The PACE winter session is ongoing in Strasburg. An Azerbaijani
delegation is in attendance. The session will end on 25 January.
According to Pashayeva, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is a result
of the occupation of 20% of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia. "And
that caused ethnic cleansing in the region," she said.
Pashayeva called on Armenian MPs to try not find resemblance between
Kosovo and Nagorno-Karabakh, but to try their best for settlement of
the conflict.
" Azerbaijan supports the efforts of international organizations in
settling the Kosovo conflict which has been ongoing for many years.
The lingering Kosovo conflict impedes stability and security in the
region. Thousands of people have been suffering from that for a long
period. Therefore, determination of the Kosovo status and a soon to
be solution to the problem is very important. Unfortunately, several
countries and forces are trying to make use of the Kosovo conflict
for their own interests," the MP said.
Armenian officials state that Kosovo may be a precedent in settling
conflicts ongoing in CIS countries, i.e. the Nagorno-Karabakh, South
Ossetia and Trans-Dniester conflicts, she said.
"These statements and ideas first of all confuse the Armenian people,
as well as Armenians who are Azerbaijani citizens and are residing in
the occupied Azerbaijani territories. At the same time, they seriously
harm ongoing peaceful negotiations on Nagorno-Karabakh between the
two countries," Pashayeva said.