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Azerbaijani MP submits document on anniversary of refugees’ tragedy at PACE

25 June 2013 15:33 (UTC+04:00)
Azerbaijani MP submits document on anniversary of refugees’ tragedy at PACE

By Sara Rajabova

A document over the 25th anniversary of the tragedy of refugees committed by Armenia has been circulated in the framework of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) summer session.

The document was distributed by Rafael Huseynov, a member of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE, on the first working day of the PACE session.

It said that the last in the 20th century deportation of Azerbaijanis from Armenia, who for centuries had lived there and gave geographic names to locations in their own language, began exactly 25 years ago.

"What benefit did the deportation bring to the Armenian people, did it make them happy? As a result of this deportation and occupation, indeed about one million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced persons and thus, gradual emigration of the Armenian population itself to foreign countries, which is still ongoing, started. During these years over 2 million people have left Armenia, which is approximately 20 times more than the average statistical indicators worldwide," the document reads.

Huseynov noted the importance of the preparation of reports on common problems of the countries that emerged following the collapse of the Soviet Union, most of which are already members of the Council of Europe.

Meanwhile, head of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE Samad Seyidov said during the discussions regarding the report of the PACE Bureau and Standing Committee, prepared by Italian MP Giacomo Santini, that Azerbaijan hopes the Armenian delegation would arrive at a decision to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict at the negotiating table.

In his speech, he drew attention to the discussions on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict which took place at the meetings of the PACE Bureau and the Standing Committee in the Armenian capital Yerevan.

In late May, during a meeting in Yerevan, the PACE Standing Committee signed a declaration saying the search for a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the commitment undertaken by Armenia and Azerbaijan upon their accession to the Council of Europe.

Seyidov also mentioned the documents relating to the conflict adopted by the Council of Europe. He recalled Resolution No. 1416, which is a substantial document on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

PACE on June 24 started its summer session, which will last till June 28. A group of parliament members led by Samad Seyidov attends the session.

The Azerbaijani and Armenian delegations plan to hold a meeting on the sidelines of the session.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against the neighboring country. Since a lengthy war between the two South Caucasus countries that displaced over a million Azerbaijanis and ended with the signing of a precarious cease-fire in 1994, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on a pullout from the occupied territories.

Peace talks brokered by OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs representing the United States, Russia and France have been largely fruitless so far.

The negotiations are underway on the basis of the peace outline dubbed the Madrid Principles, also known as Basic Principles. The document envisions a return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control; determining the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh; a corridor linking Armenia to the region; and the right of all internally displaced persons to return home.

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