Azernews.Az

The Azerbaijani government has condemned the conduct of so-called polling in the country's occupied territories during Armenia's presidential election held early last week. The Foreign Ministry sent a note to the OSCE, the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly and the European Parliament over the establishment of illegal polling stations in Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh and adjacent districts.
"These actions confirm Armenia's occupation of Azerbaijani territories and represent another proof of continuing illegal activities there," the document said.
The ministry called on the international groups to thoroughly investigate and crack down on these actions, and to take them into account in their reports.
Armenia occupies Upper Garabagh and seven other Azerbaijani districts despite four standing UN resolutions on unconditional pullout of its armed forces and condemnation by a number of other international groups.
According to preliminary results, Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian won at the polls, gaining nearly 53 percent of the votes. But the opposition said the vote was rigged and took to the streets in the capital.
Commenting on the note sent to international organizations, Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov accused Yerevan of abusing ethnic Armenian citizens of Azerbaijan for its political ends. He said international organizations should have prevented Armenia's committing "political exploitation" in Upper Garabagh.
"This is not the first time that such measures are taken in the occupied land during the elections. Ballot boxes are put up and so-called 'elections' are held there…Action should have been taken to prevent this, as it was these three international groups whose representatives observed the polling," Azimov said.
He emphasized that Baku had already raised the issue of numerous facts of economic, environmental and cultural exploitation in the occupied land.
Azimov said OSCE observers have already witnessed the abuse of Upper Garabagh during previous elections in Armenia and adequately reacted to this. However, the Azerbaijani government this time is seeking to draw the attention of broader international community to such actions, as they once again prove Armenian occupation and indicate the illegal actions that international organizations should urgently address.