Armenian foreign ministry: Artsakh people's right to self-determination and security is at the basis of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

YEREVAN, January 22. /ARKA./ The right of the people of Artsakh to self-determination and security is at the basis of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, press secretary of the Armenian Foreign Ministry Anna Naghdalyan said today when asked to comment on resolutions adopted by the European Parliament yesterday.

On January 21, the European Parliament adopted the annual report-resolutions on the “Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP)” and the “Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP)”, which also include provisions on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and Turkey's role. 

According to Anna Naghdalyan, there are a number of important provisions enshrined in the report-resolutions adopted by the European Parliament, which are related to the Azerbaijani aggression against Artsakh and Turkey's involvement in it, the committed war crimes, as well as the steps to be undertaken to eliminate the consequences of the aggression, especially to address humanitarian issues.

'We particularly emphasize that the European Parliament not only condemned the war crimes, including the targeting of civilian population and infrastructure, places of worship, but also stressed that these crimes should not remain unpunished,' she said.

'We agree with the European Parliament's call for Turkey to refrain from any intervention in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, including offering military support to Azerbaijan, and to desist from its destabilizing actions. In this context, it is especially important that the European Parliament has also condemned the fact that Turkey transferred foreign terrorist fighters from Syria and elsewhere to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.

I would like to especially emphasize the position of the European Parliament on humanitarian issues, particularly regarding the immediate repatriation of prisoners of war. It should be noted that the issues of security of the people of Artsakh, protection of historical-cultural and religious heritage were properly highlighted in the resolution. It is crucial that the European Parliament expressed its position of providing unhindered humanitarian assistance to Artsakh.

We emphasize the importance of the efforts of international community, in the form of such resolutions, to contribute to the elimination of the causes and consequences of the war, which in accordance to the resolution, supposes the lasting settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and the determination of the future legal status of Artsakh on the basis of the Basic Principles proposed by the Co-Chairs. As it was once again emphasized by this respective international body, right of the people of Artsakh to self-determination and security is at the basis of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.'

On September 27, 2020, Azerbaijani armed forces, backed by Turkey and foreign mercenaries and terrorists, attacked Nagorno-Karabakh along the entire front line using rocket and artillery weapons, heavy armored vehicles, military aircraft and prohibited types of weapons such as cluster bombs and  phosphorus weapons. 

After 44 days of the war, on November 9, the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a statement on the cessation of all hostilities. According to the document, the parties stopped at where they were at that time. The town of Shushi, the districts of Agdam, Kelbajar and Lachin were handed over to Azerbaijan, with the exception of a 5-kilometer corridor connecting Karabakh with Armenia. 

A Russian peacekeeping contingent was deployed along the contact line in Karabakh and along the Lachin corridor. Internally displaced persons and refugees are returning to Karabakh and adjacent regions, prisoners of war, hostages and other detained persons and bodies of the dead are being exchanged. -0-