Germany supports settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
By Rashid Shirinov
Chairman of the Germany-South Caucasus Parliamentary Friendship Group at Bundestag Karin Strenz visited the Milli Majlis of the Azerbaijan Republic on August 9.
At the meeting, Chairman of the working group on Azerbaijani-German inter-parliamentary relations Rovshan Rzayev talked about achievements of Azerbaijan in recent years and Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
He stressed that Azerbaijan attaches great importance to developing cooperation with Germany in various spheres, including the expansion of inter-parliamentary relations.
Speaking on the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, other members of the group also expressed their hope that the German presidency at the OSCE will facilitate the resolution of the problem and concrete steps on its settlement will be taken.
Karin Strenz, in turn, expressed her satisfaction from the presidency in the Germany-South Caucasus Parliamentary Friendship Group. She stressed that such meetings contribute to the development of inter-parliamentary relations, and this development in a number of fields is beneficial to both parties.
Strenz particularly stressed the importance of resolving the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict based on international legal norms and in accordance with the adopted UN resolutions.
Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.
While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign State with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years.
Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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