Armenia’s parliament expresses concern over Khojaly draft resolution adopted by Czech parliament committee

YEREVAN, March 1. /ARKA/. Armenian parliament expressed concern over Khojaly draft resolution adopted by the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic’s parliament, Artak Zaqaryan, the chairman of the Armenian related parliamentary committee, said Friday.

Earlier last month the Azerbaijani media sources referring to Elman Abdullaev, a spokesman for Azerbaijan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, reported the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Parliament condemned “ethnic cleansing” in Khojaly. The document adopted by the Committee also “recognizes the territorial integrity” of Azerbaijan referring to Nagorno-Karabakh as to its part. 

On February 21, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic said in a statement the adopted draft resolution has no relevance to the policy of the Ministry. 

“I have already replied to my Czech counterpart—the chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the parliament lower chamber. In my letter, I expressed all our concern about this matter,” Zaqaryan told reporters in Novosti International press center in Yerevan.

Zaqaryan also added the letter clarifies Armenian official position on this draft resolution. 

Zaqaryan expressed his hopes that the Czech Republic will respond to the position of the Armenian side detailed in the letter, adding such format of communication plays an important role in resolving many issues between states.

Armenia will make all the possible efforts to stave off any attempts of Azerbaijan to propagate anti-Armenian policy in foreign parliaments, according to him.

“We will organize responsive events and undertake any steps to make these societies learn the real truth about these events and not believe the falsified information,” he said.

On February 25-26, 1992, Karabakh self-defense military units initiated a military operation to unblock the only airport in the republic near Khojaly village and to neutralize the enemy’s weapon emplacements in the village itself. The assaulting units of Nagorno-Karabakh self-defense force left a security corridor for civilians to leave and the Azeri side was notified of it in advance. But Azerbaijani authorities did not take any actions to withdraw civilians from the combat zone. Moreover, the column of civilians was shot on the territory under Azeri control. Experts believe “Khojaly” was organized by Azerbaijani nationalists for political purposes.

On April 10, 1992, the regular army units of Azerbaijan attacked on the village and ruined it. 

As Azerbaijan declared its independence from the Soviet Union and removed the powers held by the Karabakh’s government, the Armenian majority voted in 1991, December 10, to secede from Azerbaijan and in the process proclaimed the enclave the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh. Full-scale fighting, initiated by Azerbaijan, erupted in the late winter of 1992. International mediation by several groups including Europe's OSCE’s failed to bring an end resolution that both sides could work with. 

In the spring of 1993, Armenian forces captured regions outside the enclave itself. By the end of the war in 1994, the Armenians were in full control of most of the enclave and also held and currently control seven regions beyond the administrative borders of Nagorno-Karabakh. Almost 1 million people on both sides have been displaced as a result of the conflict. A Russian- -brokered ceasefire was signed in May 1994 and peace talks, mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group, have been held ever since by Armenia and Azerbaijan. -0-