Tehran: "Referendum" in Nagorno-Karabakh unacceptable

By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

The so-called “referendum” in Nagorno-Karabakh, the occupied region of Azerbaijan, is unacceptable, said Bahram Ghasemi, Iranian’s Foreign Ministry spokesman.

He made the statement at a press conference in Tehran on February 20 while commenting on the “referendum,” which is held in the Armenia-occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.

Ghasemi said that the "referendum" of illegitimate regime will not help to resolve the crisis, adding that only dialogue can resolve the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Earlier, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry announced that this provocative step, as well as Armenia’s attempts to change the name of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, the integral part of Azerbaijan, is yet another clear manifestation that Armenia is not genuinely interested in seeking a political settlement of the armed conflict.

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chair states, namely Russia, the U.S. and France, have also confirmed that they will not recognize the upcoming “referendum” in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan laying territorial claims on its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.