Karabakh’s Azerbaijani Community calls on Armenians to vote in upcoming elections
By Abdul Kerimkhanov
Nagorno-Karabakh’s Azerbaijani Community has called on the region’s Armenian community to vote in the upcoming snap parliamentary election to be held in Azerbaijan on February 9.
"As an Azerbaijani community of Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region, we appeal to the Armenian voters who belong to the occupied Khankendi and Shusha, Aghdam, Khojaly and Khojavand constituencies and urge them to choose among the candidates registered in the relevant constituencies in the snap elections to Parliament and to express their views on the candidates for the parliament," the community said in the statement made on February 6.
The community reminded that under the Azerbaijani conditions, all conditions have been provided for all citizens residing in Azerbaijan to express their will freely in the elections.
The Community said that each candidate carries out his / her campaign using the equal opportunities created in accordance with the electoral legislation of Azerbaijan. Every candidate's campaign on social media can be watched from anywhere in the world.
"Unfortunately, Armenia's military aggression against our country, the occupation of our lands, and the ethnic cleansing of Azerbaijanis have also deprived Armenian citizens of the right to vote in these elections directly," the statement reads.
It was also added that as a result of the military aggression of Armenia, the territory of seven constituencies of Azerbaijan is completely occupied and part of the territory of three constituencies is under occupation.
Note that 2431 people have appealed to participate in the parliamentary elections to be held on 9 February 2020 in Azerbaijan.
As of February 6, number of candidates is 1321.
Baku strengthens the role of Karabakh’s Azerbaijani community and wants to ensure equal access to negotiations of the Armenian and Azerbaijani communities in the region.
The Azerbaijani community, which as a result of ethnic cleansing was forced to leave their homes, has the legal right to participate in determining the future legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh. Without the recognition of this right, a comprehensive and fair settlement of the conflict cannot be achieved.
Nagorno-Karabakh is Azerbaijan’s breakaway region which along with seven adjacent regions was occupied by Armenian forces in a war in the early 1990s. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and around one million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. To this day, Armenia has not implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions.
Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94
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