Ties with Azerbaijan important for EU
Relations with Azerbaijan are important for the European Parliament and the dialogue between Azerbaijan and the European Union (EU) should be developed.
This was stated by Ryszard Czarnecki, Vice-President of the European Parliament, during an event dedicated to the meeting with the leadership of the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists of the European Parliament in Baku on February 12.
Czarnecki believes that visits to Baku will made contribution to the development of relations between the sides.
Alliance’s President Jan Zahradil, in turn, noted that Azerbaijan as a tolerant country is an example for others.
“Azerbaijan is one of the important countries both for us and the region,” he said.
The Alliance also expressed readiness to provide a platform for Armenia and Azerbaijan for discussing the ways to resolve the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
"The Alliance is not ready to propose options on the settlement of a particular conflict," Zahradil said. "As the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists of the European Parliament, we can only offer a platform for mutual dialogue, better understanding and exchange of views, which may contribute to the emergence of the best ideas for settlement of the conflict."
For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions.
The sides to the conflict are currently in talks based on the renewed Madrid principles, which envisage return of occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control, ensure the right of all internally displaced persons and refugees to return to their former places of residence, future determination of the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh and etc.
However, the peace talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group have been largely fruitless so far.
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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova
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