Baku: So-called "elections" in Nagorno-Karabakh have no legal effect

/By AzerNews/

By Mushvig Mehdiyev

Baku has officially condemned the so-called "parliamentary elections" held in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh.

"These "elections" constitute a clear violation of Azerbaijan's Constitution and the norms and principles of international law, and, therefore, have no legal effect whatsoever," the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued on May 4.

Armenia has conducted the so-called "elections" to the "parliament" of the puppet separatist regime it has established in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan on May 3, 2015.

Referring to the world’s approach towards the fabricated "polls", the Foreign Ministry said the international community has overwhelmingly united with Azerbaijan in rejecting this mock "election" exercise and not recognizing as legitimate the situation created through the use of force against the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, accompanied by the notorious practice of ethnic cleansing and other flagrant violations of the peremptory norms of international law, as reflected in the statements by the European Union, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, NATO, the Russian Federation, France and the U.S. individually as well as in their capacity as Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and many other countries.

"This provocative step is yet another clear manifestation that Armenia is not genuinely interested in seeking a political settlement of the armed conflict and, instead, pursues the path of escalation, undertaking consistent measures. Yerevan consolidates the results of its occupation policy and its annexationist aspirations through conducting large-scale military exercises in the occupied territories, illegally changing the demographic, cultural and physical character of the occupied territories, engaging in economic and other activities, including transfer of Armenian population into these territories with the ultimate goal of imposing a fait accompli situation," the statement read.

The ministry once more underlined Azerbaijan's position that completely excludes the reconciliation with the seizure of its territories. "The resolution of the conflict is possible only on the basis of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan within its internationally recognized borders".

The ministry added that the principled basis for the settlement of the conflict is laid down in the UN Security Council resolutions 822(1993), 853(1993), 874(1993) and 884(1993) and the U.N. General Assembly resolution 62/243 (2008), which condemn the use of force against Azerbaijan and occupation of its territories and reaffirm the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and the inviolability of its internationally recognized borders.

"In those resolutions, the United Nations reaffirmed that the Nagorno-Karabakh region is an inalienable part of Azerbaijan and demanded immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the occupying forces from all occupied territories of Azerbaijan," the statement stated.

"The responsibility for the consequences of any action which Azerbaijan may be obliged to take in connection with the continued illegal presence of the Armenian armed forces and unlawful activities in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan in order to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity within the internationally recognized border will lie entirely with the Republic of Armenia," the statement concluded.

Armenia's armed invasion into Azerbaijan's legal territory resulted in a severe conflict pushing the two neighboring countries into a bitter territorial dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which Armenia-backed separatists seized from Azerbaijan in a bloody war in the early 1990s.

Baku exerted much more efforts to clinch a peaceful end to the conflict. But any result is yet to be achieved since Yerevan refuses to raise the same efforts for pushing the conflict towards its negotiated end, preferring instead to support the occupation.