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ANKARA: Azerbaijan Calls Nagorno-Karabakh Elections Illegal

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  • ANKARA: Azerbaijan Calls Nagorno-Karabakh Elections Illegal

    AZERBAIJAN CALLS NAGORNO-KARABAKH ELECTIONS ILLEGAL

    Today's Zaman, Turkey
    Sept 30 2011

    Azerbaijan has denounced the local elections held on Sept. 18 in
    Azerbaijan's breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, calling them
    illegal.

    Underlining that Armenia's decision to hold elections on Azerbaijan's
    territory lacks any validity and undermines the negotiations, under
    the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
    Minsk Group, the statement noted that the so-called elections have
    no legal effect because they contradict the norms and principles
    of international law. Since Armenia has implemented a policy to
    homogenize the population through ethnic cleansing and forcing
    Azerbaijanis living in the region to migrate, the elections only
    represent the illegal structure established by Armenia.

    "The so-called 'elections' were organized with the aim of concealing
    Armenia's policy of occupation and bolstering the results of the
    occupation of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territories,"
    the statement said.

    Commenting on the election in Nagorno-Karabakh, Hasan Kanbolat,
    chairman of the Middle East Strategic Research Center (ORSAM), noted
    that the elections for the local self-governing bodies that took place
    in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of the Republic of Azerbaijan
    are illegal.

    â~@~\These elections will undermine efforts to find a peaceful solution
    for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia,â~@~]
    he told Today's Zaman. Kanbolat argued that Russia and other OSCE
    Minsk Group co-chairs, the US and France, do not exert enough of an
    effort to put an end to the Armenian occupation of the Azerbaijani
    territories and try to legitimize the occupation via endless meetings.

    â~@~\One-fifth of Azerbaijan's total territory is under Armenian
    occupation. In order to prove its sincerity, Armenia should end the
    occupation. Although the two countries signed a cease-fire agreement
    in 1994, Armenia continuously violates it and attacks Azerbaijan's
    territory,â~@~] he added.

    Speaking to Today's Zaman, Mehmet Seyfettin Erol, a professor of
    international relations at Gazi University in Ankara, noted that
    the election has no practical meaning. However, if Azerbaijan moves
    slowly to respond to these kinds of developments, these elections will
    strengthen the hand of Armenia and Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh
    in future developments. â~@~\For almost two decades almost 20 percent
    of Azerbaijan's territory has been under Armenian occupation and
    more than 1 million people have been displaced. When we take into
    consideration this number of refugees, the legitimacy of the elections
    automatically becomes controversial,â~@~] he said.

    Underlining that Nagorno-Karabakh has been Turkic throughout history,
    Erol stated that the main cause of this conflict was the USSR's border
    regulations. The USSR intentionally created political instability
    in the region to increase its domination over the parties and Russia
    also maintains USSR policies for the same purpose as well.

    â~@~\In this issue Russia is the primary factor in solving the
    conflict.

    However, instead of settling the issue, Russia wants to use the
    Nagorno-Karabakh issue as a trump card in their relations with
    Azerbaijan and Armenia. Now is the time for Azerbaijan, which reacted
    harshly to the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations in 2008,
    to reconsider Russia's approach toward Armenia,â~@~] he added.

    Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Alexander Lukashevich
    also announced that Russia does not recognize the local government
    elections held in Nagorno-Karabakh on Sept. 18.

    Lukashevich reaffirmed their support for the principles of
    territorial integrity and the non-use of force, as well as the other
    basic principles and norms of international law. Reiterating that
    Russia does not recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent state,
    Lukashevich stated that the elections cannot influence the peace
    process for Nagorno-Karabakh.

    Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary-General Ekmeleddin
    Ä°hsanoÄ~_lu has issued a press release on the issue. While reiterating
    that the OIC fully recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity
    of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the secretary-general stated that the
    recent elections in Nagorno-Karabakh gravely violate relevant norms
    and principles of international law and therefore have no legal effect.

    Ä°hsanoÄ~_lu has also emphasized that the OIC continues to support
    Azerbaijan's efforts to solve the territory dispute on the basis of
    relevant international resolutions.

    Since the 1988-1994 war, Nagorno-Karabakh has been under Armenian
    control. Peace negotiations under the OSCE Minsk Group have been
    ongoing for almost two decades.

    The two sides are currently negotiating a set of basic principles that
    return the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani
    control; give an interim status to Nagorno-Karabakh, providing
    guarantees for security and self-governance; create a corridor linking
    Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh; allow for the future determination of
    the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh with a legally binding
    public expression of will through a referendum; give all internally
    displaced persons and refugees the right to return to their former
    places of residence; and establish international security guarantees
    that would include a peacekeeping operation. While Azerbaijan states
    that it has accepted the latest version of the basic principles,
    Armenia is still hesitating.

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