Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

The European Parliament confirmed that Armenian troops have occupied Azerbaijani territories.

The European Parliament confirmed the fact in its draft resolution on the European Neighborhood Policy, which was adopted in the plenary session of the parliament.

Proposed by the Parliament's Rapporteur of the 16th paragraph of the draft resolution Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, an important amendment for Azerbaijan concerning the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was adopted at the plenary session of the parliament.

The amendment said the European Parliament recalls its position that the occupation of the territories of a member of Eastern Partnership by another member state violates the fundamental principles and objectives of the Eastern Partnership.

It said that the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should comply with UN Security Council resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 of 1993, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group Basic Principles enshrined in the L'Aquila joint statement of 10 July 2009.

European Parliament' resolution for the first time emphasized that the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict should be resolved in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions demanding an immediate, unconditional and complete withdrawal of the occupying forces from the occupied Azerbaijani territories and ensuring of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity, sovereignty and inviolability of its borders.

The second section of the 23rd paragraph of the motion for a resolution was pulled out because it was repeating the 16th paragraph, and it was adopted as the following: "The European Parliament reaffirms the need to strive for the regional stability and security that are necessary to achieve the goals of the Eastern Partnership, also in the context of further integration with the EU; urges further efforts to progress towards the resolution of the territorial conflicts in Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Moldova."

The resolution of the European Parliament proves once again that the international community supports the settlement of the conflict on the basis of UN Security Council resolutions.

The European Parliament previously adopted resolutions demanding withdrawal of Armenian Armed Forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, the return of the control of these territories to Azerbaijan, the suspension of sending units of Armenia's standing army to the Azerbaijani territories, as well as ensuring the right of refugees and internally displaced persons to return to their homelands.

Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that caused a brutal war in the early 1990s. Long-standing efforts by US, Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.

As a result of the military aggression of Armenia, over 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed, 4,866 are reported missing and almost 100,000 were injured, and 50,000 were disabled.

The UN Security Council has passed four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been enforced to this day.