Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

A German lawmaker has stressed the need for withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

Peter Gauweiler, member of the Bundestag committee on foreign relations and of the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) faction, underscored the well-known resolutions on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict adopted by the UN Security Council, according to the European Azerbaijan Society (TEAS).

"Nagorno-Karabakh is an integral part of Azerbaijan. Its occupation is a violation of international law. Therefore, the Armenian troops should be withdrawn from the occupied territories. This is the only way to resolve the conflict," the German MP said.

According to Gauweiler, the internally displaced persons should be given the opportunity to safely return to their homes. "Therefore, the Armenian troops should be immediately withdrawn from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan," he said.

Gauweiler also said that Azerbaijan and Germany closely cooperate in various fields.

"Azerbaijan is an important partner in the field of ensuring the energy security of Germany. Therefore, the most important issue is that the parties involved in the conflict once again sit down at the negotiating table," the Bundestag member said, stressing the importance of discussion of the issue on the multilateral level.

Gauweiler added that Germany will make every effort to support the process of a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since a lengthy war in the early 1990s that displaced over one million Azerbaijanis, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.

The UN Security Council's four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory have not been enforced to this day.

Russia, France and the U.S. have long been working to broker a solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through the OSCE Minsk Group, but their efforts have been largely fruitless so far.

Peace talks are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid 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.