Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

BAKU: MEP tends to understand situation in NK

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • BAKU: MEP tends to understand situation in NK

    Trend Daily News (Azerbaijan)
    December 23, 2010 Thursday 6:12 PM GMT +4


    MEP tends to understand situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijani FM
    doubts on impartiality of his position


    Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 23 /Trend, E.Ostapenko/

    European Parliament's rapporteur on Armenia Tomasz Poreba traveled to
    Nagorno-Karabakh on his own initiative to review the situation on the
    ground and preparation of a report. Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry
    insists on the need for consultation with the Azerbaijani side in
    organizing visits to the occupied territory.

    "As a Standing Rapporteur for Armenia I felt that getting to know
    something more about the region is crucial in order to prepare an
    objective and comprehensive report. The goal [of non-official visit to
    Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh] was to get the feeling of the situation
    on the ground," Poreba told Trend on Thursday.

    MEP, the keynote speaker on Armenia Tomasz Poreba,visited
    Nagorno-Karabakh during his recent trip to Armenia. There he held
    meetings with the leadership of the unrecognized republic and
    discussing issues concerning the resolution of the Karabakh conflict,
    the situation in the region and bilateral relations, the Armenian
    media outlets reported earlier.

    Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry insists on the need for consultations
    with the Azerbaijani side when visiting the occupied territories.
    "If Poreba would tend to make an impartial report, before his visit to
    Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, he had to discuss this issue with
    official circles of Azerbaijan, to know our position and our attitude
    towards his visit," Foreign Ministry spokesman Elkhan Polukhov told
    Trend.

    Even for a temporary visit to the occupied Azerbaijani territories, it
    needs to obtain permission from the Azerbaijani side, he said.

    In the light of illigal entry to the territories of Nagorno Karabakh,
    the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry on Tuesday presented a protest note
    to the head of the EU delegation in Azerbaijan Roland Kobia and Polish
    ambassador Mikhal Labenda.

    The opposite side was informed that this incident caused serious
    protest of the Azerbaijani side. It was reported that it was
    undesirable for foreign citizens to pay illegal visits to the
    Azerbaijani occupied lands because they show disrespect to sovereignty
    and territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

    The EU mission in Baku said earlier that the response on behalf of the
    European Union will be sent to the Foreign Ministry.

    According to Poreba, during his visit both to Armenia and to NK, he
    continuously stressed that his goal as a rapporteur is not solving the
    NK conflict. Conflict resolution will only be mentioned in 1-2 points
    of the report, he said.

    However the report would never be objective and complete without
    visiting the region, Poreba supposes.

    "During the visit I also repeated that the only platform to solve the
    conflict is through negotiations via the OSCE Minsk Group, Poreba
    said. I fully support the Madrid Principles and hope that the conflict
    will be solved by good cooperation of all sides within its framework."

    The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
    when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
    armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including
    the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.

    Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
    co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. - are
    currently holding peace negotiations.

    Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four
    resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
    surrounding regions.

    MEP Poreba told Trend that he would be happy to meet with the
    authorities of Azerbaijansoon in order to get to know their point of
    view on the whole situation.

    "I amgoing toto prepare a very objective report, which would not favor
    any side, but truth," he said.

    Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry announced MEP Tomasz Poreba persona non
    grata. According to Elkhan Polukhov, naming in the blacklist is the
    result of actions of Poreba himself that casts doubt on the
    impartiality of his position.

    Poreba himself sincerely hopes that putting him on the Azerbaijan's
    'Black List' will not be confirmed, and that he will have "the
    opportunity to freely speak to the other side of the conflict".




    From: A. Papazian
Working...
X