Azernews.Az

By Akbar Mammadov

The Georgian Foreign Ministry has said said it does not recognize the so-called "elections" held in Azerbaijan's occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region on April 14.

"Georgia does not recognize the so called independence of Nagorno Karabakh, and therefore, does not recognize the second round of the so-called "presidential elections" held in this region of Azerbaijan," the Georgian Foreign Ministry stated in its official website on April 15.

"Georgia supports territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Republic of Azerbaijan within its internationally recognized borders and supports the peaceful settlement of conflict based on the principles and norms of international law," the ministry added.

Note that Georgia made a similar statement during the first round of the so-called elections in Nagorno-Karabakh held on March 31.

A number of other countries, including France, Germany, Turkey, UK, Canada, Australia, Norway, Pakistan, Latvia, Ukraine, Estonia, as well as major international organizations such as the EU, NATO, OSCE, OIC, GUAM, Visegrad Group, TURKPA have recently reiterated their support for Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and condemned the illegal elections held in in Karabakh on March 31.

Azerbaijan and Armenia are locked in a conflict over Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh 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 OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by the United States, Russia and France has been mediating the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict since the signing of the volatile cease-fire agreement in 1994. The Minsk Group’s efforts have resulted in no progress and to this date, Armenia has failed to abide by the UN Security Council resolutions (822, 853, 874 and 884) that demand the withdrawal of Armenian military forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

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Akbar Mammadov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AkbarMammadov97

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