Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan will soon raise the illegal settlement of its occupied territories by Syrian Armenians at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

"At the PACE fall session, we will surely raise Armenia's illegal steps, which contrary to international law, resolutions of international organizations and commitments to the Council of Europe, settles the occupied Azerbaijani lands by Armenians living in different parts of the world. We will raise this issue in the case of Syria," an Azerbaijani parliamentary representative to PACE, Ganira Pashayeva, told Trend news agency on Wednesday.

Tension grows in Syria, and it is "natural" that Armenia has started to use this situation for illegal settlement of occupied Azerbaijani territories by Syrian Armenians, Pashayeva added.

In addition to the violation of international law, this deals a serious blow to the process of settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the MP said.

Pashayeva also called on the Syrian Armenians not to believe the false promises of Armenia and not to come to the occupied Azerbaijani territories.

"This is an illegal settlement. When Azerbaijan starts to liberate its lands occupied by Armenia, these Armenians will be denied the right to stay there and will be forced to leave," she added.

Earlier, Armenian media quoted "prime minister" of the separatist regime in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region, Ara Harutyunyan, as saying that "Nagorno-Karabakh is ready to accept Syrian Armenians, provide them an opportunity to study in Artsakh [the word used by Armenians for Karabakh] free of charge, as well as provide them with accommodation."

After Armenian media circulated reports about the settlements, Baku raised the issue with international organizations, including the OSCE, the Foreign Ministry told Trend earlier.

The illegality of settlements in Azerbaijan's historical territories was also mentioned in earlier reports of the OSCE missions and the OSCE Minsk Group -- which is brokering settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the ministry said.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia leveled territorial claims against Azerbaijan. The two countries fought a lengthy war that displaced about one million Azerbaijanis. Since the fragile ceasefire accord signed in 1994, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, in defiance of international law. Peace talks, brokered by the United States, Russia and France through the Minsk Group, have been largely fruitless so far.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on its pullout from Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven surrounding regions.