Azerbaijan awaits unambiguous and firm actions by the European Union to ensure that the resolutions of the UN Security Council on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are strictly complied with and implemented, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in its statement on the final declaration of Riga summit.
Riga summit of the EU Eastern Partnership countries was held May 21-22.
Azerbaijan notes an attempt of the European partners to embrace in this declaration in full the issues on the agenda of the Eastern Partnership, said the statement.
“However, the Republic of Azerbaijan underlines that there are issues that cannot be a subject to compromise,” said the statement. “Thus said, several countries of the Eastern Partnership are facing externally imposed armed conflicts and territorial claims that resulted in military occupation, ethnic cleansing and forced population displacements.”
These conflicts are caused and accompanied by flagrant violations of the fundamental norms and principles of international law, in particular those relating to the sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of the internationally recognized borders of states, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said.
“These principles are at the core of interstate relations and international security system both globally and on the European continent,” the statement said.
While noting the European Union’s support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all the partner countries, the Republic of Azerbaijan cannot but notice the attempt to cast shadow on the inviolability of these principles, according to the statement.
The Foreign Ministry said in the statement that in an effort to work out a compromised text with regard to the conflicts affecting some partner countries, the authors of the draft declaration fell short of avoiding what is referred to in the international practice as ‘double standards’.
“The Republic of Azerbaijan expects the clearly and unequivocally articulated position of the European Union with regard to the Armenia-Azerbaijan armed conflict, at the heart of the resolution of which are the United Nations Security Council resolutions 822 (1993), 853 (1993), 874 (1993) and 884 (1993) that reaffirm the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and the inviolability of its internationally recognized borders, and demand immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian occupying forces from all the occupied territories of Azerbaijan,” said the statement.
The Republic of Azerbaijan awaits unambiguous and firm actions by the European Union to ensure that those resolutions are strictly complied with and implemented, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in its statement.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council’s four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.
/Trend/
