Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

The international community recognizes Nagorno-Karabakh as integral part of Azerbaijan, ignoring it means Armenian politics is playing with fire.

German MP Steffen Kanitz (CDU faction) made the remarks answering questions of The European Azerbaijan Society (TEAS) on the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Kanitz said he supports the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.

The MP further noted that the application of the principle of territorial integrity in Europe was undisputed until the violent aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan.

"By occupying a great part of Azerbaijan's state territory and Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia has noticeably placed itself outside the valid legal standards. Such a behavior cannot be tolerated by us, parliamentarians," Kanitz said.

He further said the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has made clear that Armenia's occupation policy clearly violates international law.

"Guided by the resolution, Germany and Europe stand beside Azerbaijan, when it is about a peaceful solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Directly after the end of the Soviet Union, Armenia illegally occupied the Nagorno-Karabakh region and in addition to that seven surrounding Azerbaijani regions and expelled one million refugees from their homelands. It must be clear that this is an insupportable situation. Therefore we will further increase our efforts for a peaceful solution of the conflict," Kanitz underlined.

He said the European Community fiercely condemns Armenia's actions against international law, human rights and freedom, adding that Armenia must be held responsible and accountable also internationally.

"We will no longer be able to tolerate Armenia's aggressive occupation policy," he stressed.

The precarious cease-fire between Azerbaijan and Armenia was reached after a lengthy war that displaced over a million Azerbaijanis and has been in place between the two South Caucasus countries since 1994.

Since the hostilities, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

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

Peace talks mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. have produced no results so far.