European Union disappoints separatist rulers in Karabakh

/By Azernews/

By Mushvig Mehdiyev

In another scathing critique directed at Armenia and its illegal puppet regime in the Nagorno-Karabakh, the European Union joined its voice to that of countless foreign powers and international organizations in condemning the upcoming "parliamentary elections" in Azerbaijan's occupied territories.

The European Union which has closely monitored developments in between Azerbaijan and Armenia in relation to the occupied territories, has once again offered its unconditional support towards Baku as Yerevan is making a mockery of international law.

Backed by their masterminds in Yerevan, the separatist authorities in the occupied Azerbaijani lands have scheduled "parliamentary elections" for May 3, 2015, an earlier statement from the illegitimate "Nagorno-Karabakh Republic" president’s press office read.

Herbert Salber, the EU Representative for the South Caucasus, said the organization was well aware that elections scheduled to be held in Nagorno-Karabakh.

"These elections have no legal basis, and the EU has already expressed its stance on the matter back in 2010 and 2012, when people were called to the polls as well," Salber said.

Fed by Armenia's rulers in Yerevan the puppet regime arranged fictitious "parliamentary elections" in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2010 as part of its belligerent moves to trigger aggravated tensions with Azerbaijan.

This illegal and illegitimate regime has once proven that its only purpose remains to feed the flame of war by systematically attempting to draw Baku into an open conflict, antagonizing Azerbaijan's leadership rather than engage into a comprehensive dialogue.

Salber said the EU clearly announced its approach towards the "elections" in 2010 when it officially refused to recognize the legitimacy of the "parliamentary polls" in Nagorno-Karabakh.

"The statement stated that holding such "elections" would seriously damage the efforts made so far to broker a peaceful settlement to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh," he said.

Salber added that the "presidential elections" held in Nagorno-Karabakh in July, 2012 also took place without EU backing due to their illegality.

Prior to the EU's criticism of the fictitious "parliamentary elections" in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region, Palestine, Turkey, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, Latvia, Italy, and Switzerland voiced their rejection as well. All slammed the elections as illegitimate.

In February, Azerbaijan foreign ministry called the "parliamentary elections" organized by the Yerevan-backed puppet regime in Nagorno-Karabakh illegitimate, stressing that it was a deliberate move aimed at undermining peace talks and preventing any breakthrough in the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Moreover, the Azerbaijani authorities announced that they would translate any step taken by the puppet regime in these territories as an act of aggression on another country's territory.

As a result of Armenia's armed invasion into Azerbaijan's legal territory, the two neighboring countries have remained locked in a bitter territorial dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which Armenia-backed separatists seized from Azerbaijan in a bloody war in the early 1990s.

Despite Baku's best efforts, peace in the occupied lands remains a mirage in the distance as Armenia refuses to comply with international law.

Baku proposed a Great Peace Agreement project to work jointly on the conflict's settlement. Yerevan refused of course to seize such peace opportunity, preferring instead to support the occupation.