AZERBAIJAN IN UN DISTORTS STATEMENTS, CRIES FOR HELP

HULIQ
Nov 6 2009
SC

A number of media outlets report that the Permanent Mission of
Azerbaijan to the United Nations organized a panel discussion on the
"Situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan".

The panel was presided over by the organizer of the event – the
Permanent Representative of Azerbaijan Agshin Mehdiyev, who speaking
about the topic of the panel discussions made selective quotations
from the different statements of the OSCE Minsk Group distorting
their essence. He also complained about the Memorandum circulated in
the United Nations by Armenia, labeling it as "disorienting."

The key speaker of the event was invited from London – Professor
Malcolm Shaw, Legal Adviser of Azerbaijan. He presented his report
regarding the issue, which fully defends Azerbaijan’s position.

Permanent Representative of Armenia to the UN, Ambassador Karen
Nazarian took the floor and commenting on the statement of the
Ambassador of Azerbaijan spoke about the inadmissibility of his claims
from the viewpoint of international law. He particularly aimed his
criticism at the distortions and unacceptable formulations present
in the Professor Shaw’s report in regard to Nagorno Karabakh and the
region of South Caucasus.

In his remarks the Permanent Representative of Armenia spoke about
ethnic cleansing carried out by Azerbaijan against Armenians and the
real story behind the all out war against the people of Artsakh. He
also reflected on the legal aspect of Nagorno Karabakh’s separation
from Azerbaijan. Commenting on the report concocted by the "Legal
Adviser of Azerbaijan", Ambassador Nazarian expressed disbelief that a
professor of international law could claim that the right of people for
self-determination had been reserved for a particular span of time –
the period of decolonization, or that that right can be subordinated
to territorial integrity.

Afterward, at the request of the Azerbaijani Ambassador, Professor Shaw
provided comments on the issues raised by the Armenian Ambassador and
noted that he was not a diplomat and couldn’t argue with the Permanent
Representative of Armenia on that level. He added that the purpose
of his reports was not to confuse the international community and he
personally didn’t believe that those reports were biased.

Professor Shaw didn’t respond to the question regarding the legal
parity of the international norms. He also provided no answer to the
question raised by the Armenian Ambassador regarding the responsibility
of the government of Azerbaijan for violating international and
humanitarian laws.

Sources Mission of Armenia to the United Nations News.am (in Russian)