Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan's ambassador to the United Nations has sent a letter to the UN General Assembly condemning the so-called "parliament elections" planned on Sunday by the Armenia-backed separatist regime in Azerbaijan’s occupied Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh region, according to the UN Information Center.
Expressing concern over the planned vote, Ambassador Agshin Mehdiyev noted that Azerbaijan has repeatedly stated that despite its efforts aiming to resolve the long-standing conflict in line with international law, Armenia’s policy of occupation and the illegal actions being taken in the occupied territories indicate Yerevan’s persistent attempts to annex the occupied land.
"Any vote conducted in the backdrop of the ongoing aggression and ethnic cleansing carried out in Azerbaijan’s occupied territories, cannot be considered legitimate and harms the previous legal status of these territories, which are deemed as Azerbaijan’s territories under international law," the letter says.
Mehdiyev also wrote that the world community has unequivocally denounced all "elections" held so far in Upper Garabagh. Therefore, Azerbaijan is expecting the UN and its members to condemn these illegal actions by Armenia again.
"This lawlessness targeting Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity jeopardizes the political efforts aimed at settling the conflict and causes a disruption of stability in the South Caucasus region."
The Garabagh conflict began in 1988 on Armenian territorial claims. Since the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan including the Upper Garabagh region and its seven surrounding districts, despite four standing UN resolutions on unconditional pullout of Armenian troops and condemnation by a number of other international organizations.*