Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayilova

The world community regards Nagorno-Karabakh as an integral part of the Republic of Azerbaijan by international law, said German MP Stephan Mayer in his response to an enquiry by the Berlin office of The European Azerbaijan Society regarding the killing of Azerbaijani civilians by Armenian militaries.

On July 4 evening, the Armenian armed forces using mortars and grenade launchers shelled the Alkhanli village of Azerbaijan’s Fuzuli region. As a result of this provocation, a resident of the village and her two-year-old granddaughter were killed. Another resident, who got wounded, was taken to the hospital and was operated on.

“The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh led to bloody battles between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces with tens of thousands of dead people. Azerbaijani regions, bordering the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast got under control of Armenian forces as well. Approximately 25,000 people died in this war, about one million were expelled and had to flee. In the course of this war, the Armenian forces not only occupied Nagorno-Karabakh itself, representing about 5 percent of the Azerbaijani territory but also the seven adjacent Azerbaijani regions. In 1993, the military occupation of parts of Azerbaijani territory was condemned by the United Nations Security Council,” Mayer said, noting that this demand is valid until today and is supported by the Federal Republic of Germany.

Mayer stressed that the world community regards Nagorno-Karabakh as an integral part of the Republic of Azerbaijan by international law. “It is both Germany’s and the European Union’s (EU) position, that an enduring solution of the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh can solely be achieved peacefully. Neither Germany nor the EU acknowledged the parliamentary election in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2010. Already since the eruption of war in 1992, the so-called Minsk Group within the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) exerts itself for peace.”

The Bundestag member stressed that the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh breaches the commitments by international law.

“In 2012 the foreign affairs working group of CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the German Bundestag used the 20th anniversary of conflict as an opportunity to reconsider the previous forms of conflict resolution and initiate the process of conflict settlement. A peaceful conflict settlement and a normalization of relations would immediately cause economic and social pulses in the entire region. In this context the members of the Foreign Affairs working group of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the German Bundestag together with the OSCE, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the UN called - among other things - to pay more attention to the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh again. In all negotiations and bilateral meetings with the conflicting parties, the necessity of political compromises for the purpose of a peaceful settlement - security guarantees for the population living near the line of contact and the confidence building - has to be emphasized,” he added.

For more than two decades, Armenia and Azerbaijan are in a state of war following Yerevan’s aggression, ethnic cleansing policy and illegal territorial claims against Azerbaijan. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. Today, Armenia keeps under control over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.

Armenia ignores all attempts of Azerbaijan and mediators to achieve progress in the settlement of the conflict, thus trying to preserve the inadmissible status quo in Nagorno-Karabakh.

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