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Tuesday March 19 2024

Expert: Elections in occupied Nagorno-Karabakh pose threat to regional security, stability

7 April 2020 15:15 (UTC+04:00)
Expert: Elections in occupied Nagorno-Karabakh pose threat to regional security, stability

By Aisha Jabbarova

The so-called elections organized in Azerbaijan’s occupied Nagorno-Karabakh breakaway region on March 31 pose a threat to regional security and stability and amount to outright violations of the UN Resolutions and international law, Pakistani expert, director at Centre for Central Asia and Eurasian Studies of Institute of Peace and Diplomatic Studies Muhammad Asif Noor told Azernews.

“These elections rekindled tensions between two Caucasian nations [Armenia and Azerbaijan]. Armenians and their puppet regime in the Nagorno-Karabakh region organized the elections also at the time when the world is battling the novel COVID-19 deadly outbreak, creating further condemnation for endangering the lives of the innocent people in such times. Hence falsifying the raisond'etre of these elections during such times,” Asif Noor said.

The expert added that the international community, including regional and international organizations have denounced the unlawful elections in Nagorno-Karabakh. The election has drawn condemnation form the European Union, NATO, GUAM, the GUAM, organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Turkic Council, he said, adding that a number of countries have urged Armenia to refrain from creating such conflicting situations that can cause further escalation of the conflict. He reminded that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs that mediate the Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict, have also condemned the elections.

“In their joint statement, the co-chairs said that the final status of the region and the ongoing peace negotiations will not be affected by these elections and their outcomes. These elections are a threat to the entire peace negotiation process and undermine the efforts of the Minsk Group. Often an aggressor undertakes acts in a rush to seek maximum favors, but these acts backfire,” the expert said.

The expert explained that Armenia sought to legitimize Karabakh’s occupation by holding elections there.

“This has again exposed Armenia in front of the international community as this is a gross violation of the human rights of Azerbaijanis expelled from the Nagorno-Karabakh region.”

Furthermore, the expert said that illegal elections held in Azerbaijan’s occupied Nagorno-Karabkh region on March 31 that marks the anniversary of the genocide of Azerbaijanis in 1918, put more salt on the wounds of the Azerbaijani people.

“The Armenian authorities chose 31 March as the date of elections to put salt on the wounds of Azerbaijanis when Azerbaijanis across the globe were mourning and paying homage to tens of thousands of people killed ruthlessly in a genocide by the Armenians on the same date in 1918. Huge mass graves was excavated in 2007 and thereafter in 2013 a Genocide Memorial Complex raised on the site,” Noor said.

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