Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

Turkey will never recognize results of the so-called referendum to be held in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, said Necdet Unuvar, the head of the Azerbaijan-Turkey inter-parliamentary group.

“A “referendum on amendments to the constitution” will be held on February 20 in the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is under Armenian occupation for more than 25 years. It is obvious that the "referendum" openly violates the principles of international law, decisions of the UN Security Council and the principles of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe,” Unuvar said.

He emphasized that holding of the so-called "referendum" a few days prior to the anniversary of the Khojaly genocide, committed by Armenians against the peaceful population of Khojaly on February 26, 1992, is of inflammatory and fake nature.

Unuvar said such actions may harm the efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. “Turkey will never recognize the "results" of the “referendum,” he reaffirmed.

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry previously said the illegal “referendum” constitutes a clear violation of the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the norms and principles of international law, and, therefore, has no legal effect whatsoever.

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chair states, namely Russia, the U.S. and France, have also confirmed that they will not recognize the upcoming “referendum” in Nagorno-Karabakh.

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. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia still controls fifth part of Azerbaijan's territory and rejects implementing four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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