Uruguay responds to Azerbaijani protest
By Nigar Orujova
Uruguay's government has responded to Azerbaijan's recent protest issued over several parliament members' visit to the Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenia since a brutal war fought by the two neighboring countries in the early 1990s.
The Uruguayan Foreign Ministry said the country's international activity is based on strong principles and values such as respect for the territorial integrity of states and people's right to self-determination, non-interference in internal affairs, peaceful resolution of conflicts, as well as other fundamental principles of the UN, of which Uruguay is a founding member.
The Azerbaijani embassy in Argentina, which is also accredited to Uruguay, sent a note of protest to the Uruguayan ministry after a delegation led by President of the Uruguayan House of Representatives Jorge Orrico visited the occupied Azerbaijani lands.
The Uruguayan note said further, "Uruguay has deep and traditional ties with the Republic of Armenia and cordial and constructive friendship with the Republic of Azerbaijan. Therefore, the biggest desire of Uruguay's government can be nothing but to make efforts to solve the conflict between its two friendly states only through dialogue, understanding and other peaceful ways that will ensure coexistence and cooperation of the relevant nations and governments, this will of course be reflected in the future prosperity and welfare of the entire region. Uruguay's behavior or position must by no means be interpreted outside this framework, other goals or intentions are out of the question."
Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict for over two decades, which emerged when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. The two South Caucasus neighbors fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a precarious cease-fire in 1994. Armenian armed forces have since occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory. Peace talks brokered by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs the United States, Russia and France have been largely fruitless so far.
Uruguay also noted that maintaining international peace and security is one of the major principles of the UN Charter that it strongly supports.
Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry told the local press last Friday that Baku's protest note stated that the visit of the Uruguayan parliamentarians is illegal. It said the meetings held during the visit and the statements made are disrespect for Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and inviolability of its internationally recognized borders. It was also noted that the irresponsible visit damages the process of the conflict's peaceful settlement.
The protest note said that at the meeting held between Azerbaijani Ambassador Mammad Ahmadzadeh and Uruguayan House of Representatives speaker Jorge Orrico prior to the visit, the latter assured Ahmadzadeh that during his visit to the region, he would not visit the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
The embassy thereby asked the Uruguayan Foreign Ministry to scrutinize the incident and express its stance on the issue.
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Elman Abdullayev has said "the visit by several MPs of Uruguay does not change anything except escalating the situation."
The Azerbaijani community of the Nagorno-Karabakh region has issued a statement condemning the visit of the Uruguayan parliamentary delegation from Yerevan to the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region. In the statement, sent to Uruguayan Vice President Danilo Astori, the Azerbaijani community strongly condemned the move as damaging the bilateral relationship.
The statement emphasized that the so-called "Nagorno-Karabakh Republic" -- run by ethnic Armenians in Azerbaijan's occupied Nagorno Karabakh region -- is not recognized by any country and the visit of the parliamentary delegation is illegal.
Uruguay could become the first country recognizing the independence of the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh, co-chairman of the Armenian-Uruguayan inter-parliamentary friendship group, member of the Uruguayan parliament's commission on foreign relations, Ruben Martinez Huelmo, said on November 13 in Khankendi -- the center of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh republic, ARKA news agency reported.