Baku to protest against Basque Country’s decision
By Sara Rajabova
Baku will protest the adoption of a motion on Nagorno-Karabakh by a local provincial government in Basque Country, an autonomous community in northern Spain.
Azerbaijani Ambassador to Spain Altay Efendiyev told Trend news agency that Azerbaijan will send a note of protest to Spain with regard to the adoption of the document.
He further said Azerbaijan studies the situation related to the Basque parliament's document on Nagorno-Karabakh, which was occupied by the Armenian armed forces in early 1990s.
Efendiyev said the embassy works to clarify the essence of the issue, as yet it is unclear what wording was used in the document, and whether the self-determination or independence rights of the so-called "Nagorno-Karabakh Republic" is recognized or not.
He noted that the embassy requested a meeting with the head of the autonomous community's government, adding that the dates will be defined soon.
The embassy will send a letter to the president of the Basque Country, demanding an explanation.
Earlier, Armenian media reported that Basque Country's parliament adopted the motion about right for self-determination of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is historical Azerbaijani territory.
Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that caused a brutal war in the early 1990s. Long-standing efforts by U.S, Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.
As a result of the military aggression of Armenia, over 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed, 4,866 are reported missing and almost 100,000 were injured, and 50,000 were disabled.
The UN Security Council has passed four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been enforced to this day.