Levon Zurabyan urges Azerbaijan to respect fundamental principles of international law in PACE

YEREVAN, APRIL 21, ARMENPRESS. Member of the Armenian Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Levon Zurabyan condemned Azerbaijani provocative actions against the Artsakh people during the Assembly plenary session. As “Armenpress” reports, Zurabyan recalled in his speech that on April 2 Azerbaijan conducted large-scale military operations in Nagorno Karabakh line of contact which was the first serious outburst of war after the 1994 ceasefire.

The four-day war caused many human losses to both conflicting sides and strongly threatened the security of the region. Trying to solve the conflict by military means Azerbaijan once again showed its limitless contempt towards the rights of Nagorno Karabakh people (those people whom they consider as Azerbaijan’ citizens) to live secured and to freely determine their faith. That is what that led to the rise of this conflict”, said Zurabyan.

He stated that after Nagorno Karabakh decided to declare its independence from Azerbaijan in a legal way, including the 1988 decision of its Parliament and the 1991 referendum on its independence, Azerbaijan continued to suppress that self-determination of people with ethnic cleansing, massacres and military operations. “In 1991 Azerbaijan in cooperation with the Soviet troops exiled the Armenian people from 24 villages of Karabakh, and in 1992 Stepanakert bombing led to more than thousand human losses. As a response to such kind of actions, Nagorno Karabakh self-defense forces created a security zone around Azerbaijan”, Zurabyan said.

He added that the current program of peaceful settlement submitted by the Minsk Group Co-Chairs, plans to recognize the right to self-determination of Nagorno Karabakh people which should be expressed through the internationally recognized referendum on the final solution of the conflict, and it also aims to ensure international security guarantees combined with the security zone. “Azerbaijan, however, refuses to start negotiations, rejects the direct negotiations with Nagorno Karabakh and the steps for the maintenance of ceasefire agreement which include the removal of snipers from the frontline and the strengthening of monitoring mission”, MP noted.

He stated that Azerbaijan for ten years was engaged in military preparatory works, the major goal of which was to eliminate Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh, rather than to go to reconciliation with them. The international community should ensure that Azerbaijan respects one of the major fundamental principles of international law which is the refusal of the use of force or the threat for the settlement of conflict.