AZERBAIJANI COMMUNITY IN LITHUANIA OPPOSES 'FRIENDSHIP GROUP WITH NAGORNO-KARABAKH'
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
July 31 2013
31 July 2013, 17:36 (GMT+05:00)
By Sara Rajabova
Azerbaijani diaspora in Lithuania is working hard to achieve
invalidation of the "Friendship Group with Nagorno-Karabakh" in the
Lithuanian Seim (parliament), chairman of Azerbaijan's State Committee
for Work with Diaspora Nazim Ibrahimov said on his Facebook page on
July 30.
According to Ibrahimov, in March 2013 12 deputies of the Lithuanian
Seim set up a "friendship group with Nagorno-Karabakh." Immediately
thereafter, chairman of the Society of Lithuanian Azerbaijanis
Mahir Gamzaev and president of the Lithuania-Azerbaijan Association
Imantas Melyanas sent a joint request on behalf of the Azerbaijani
organizations of Lithuania to the Seim leadership. The request
stated that in the bylaws regulating the activities of the Seim,
there is no clause on the "Friendship Group". The authors of the
request demanded explaining under what law the group is operating
and what is its status.
"The leaders of Azerbaijani organizations have made suggestions
relating to...the elimination of such groups that do not meet the
requirements of the Seim Charter," says a letter of the chairman of
the steering board of the Chamber of Information of the Lithuanian
Peoples, co-founder of the Lithuania-Azerbaijan Association, Vitaliyus
Karakorskis, sent to the Azerbaijani State Committee for Work with
Diaspora.
Karakorskis also noted in the letter that the chairman of the
Lithuanian parliament Vidas Gedvilas instructed the committee on
foreign affairs and the committee on law and legal norms of the
Lithuanian parliament to study the issue in order to respond to this
request and examine the proposed measures.
A few days ago the Society of Lithuanian Azerbaijanis and the
Lithuania-Azerbaijan Association received a response from the Seim
committees to the request they sent in June this year.
The letter, signed by the chairman of the foreign affairs committee
of the Lithuanian parliament, representative of the ruling Social
Democratic Party of Lithuania, Benediktas Juodka, said that this
committee doesn't recognize the given "friendship group with the
parliament of the so-called Nagorno-Karabakh" as a working group
on inter-parliamentary relations, because such working groups can
be established only with the parliaments of states that have been
recognized de jure.
"The legal basis for the establishment of a friendship group with
the 'parliament of Nagorno-Karabakh' does not meet the requirements
cited in the Charter of the Lithuanian Seim. According to these
requirements, 'a working group on inter-parliamentary relations'
can only be created with the parliaments of those countries that are
legally recognized by the state. Therefore, the organization is not
recognized as a 'group on inter-parliamentary relations' and in no
way reflects the official view of the Lithuanian state. With regard
to the measures proposed by the Society of Lithuanian Azerbaijanis
and the Lithuania-Azerbaijan Association on optimization of rules of
establishing inter-parliamentary working groups, they will be taken
into account when proposals are made for the improvement of the Seim
Charter," says the official response of the chairman of the committee
on law of the Seim Julius Sabatauskas to the request of the Azerbaijani
organizations in Lithuania.
According to Vitaliyus Karakorskis, the decision of the Seim committees
shows that the attempts of the Armenian reactionary forces to create a
"friendship group with the Parliament of Nagorno-Karabakh" have failed.
Nazim Ibrahimov said on Facebook that it is for the first time that
members of parliament admitted their mistake since the establishment
of the parliament of independent Lithuania. According to Ibrahimov,
the proposals made by the Azerbaijani organizations will soon be
adopted by the Lithuanian Seim.
"It also should be noted that these decisive measures on elimination
of the 'friendship group with the parliament of Nagorno-Karabakh'
were taken as a result of the lobbying activities of the Azerbaijani
Diaspora in Lithuania and with the support of the initiative friends
of Azerbaijan in Lithuania," Ibrahimov wrote.
Nagorno-Karabakh is an Azerbaijani region occupied by Armenia along
with seven adjacent regions since a war fought by the two South
Caucasus republics in the early 1990s. Years of OSCE-brokered peace
talks have been largely fruitless so far.
http://www.azernews.az/azerbaijan/57552.html
From: A. Papazian
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
July 31 2013
31 July 2013, 17:36 (GMT+05:00)
By Sara Rajabova
Azerbaijani diaspora in Lithuania is working hard to achieve
invalidation of the "Friendship Group with Nagorno-Karabakh" in the
Lithuanian Seim (parliament), chairman of Azerbaijan's State Committee
for Work with Diaspora Nazim Ibrahimov said on his Facebook page on
July 30.
According to Ibrahimov, in March 2013 12 deputies of the Lithuanian
Seim set up a "friendship group with Nagorno-Karabakh." Immediately
thereafter, chairman of the Society of Lithuanian Azerbaijanis
Mahir Gamzaev and president of the Lithuania-Azerbaijan Association
Imantas Melyanas sent a joint request on behalf of the Azerbaijani
organizations of Lithuania to the Seim leadership. The request
stated that in the bylaws regulating the activities of the Seim,
there is no clause on the "Friendship Group". The authors of the
request demanded explaining under what law the group is operating
and what is its status.
"The leaders of Azerbaijani organizations have made suggestions
relating to...the elimination of such groups that do not meet the
requirements of the Seim Charter," says a letter of the chairman of
the steering board of the Chamber of Information of the Lithuanian
Peoples, co-founder of the Lithuania-Azerbaijan Association, Vitaliyus
Karakorskis, sent to the Azerbaijani State Committee for Work with
Diaspora.
Karakorskis also noted in the letter that the chairman of the
Lithuanian parliament Vidas Gedvilas instructed the committee on
foreign affairs and the committee on law and legal norms of the
Lithuanian parliament to study the issue in order to respond to this
request and examine the proposed measures.
A few days ago the Society of Lithuanian Azerbaijanis and the
Lithuania-Azerbaijan Association received a response from the Seim
committees to the request they sent in June this year.
The letter, signed by the chairman of the foreign affairs committee
of the Lithuanian parliament, representative of the ruling Social
Democratic Party of Lithuania, Benediktas Juodka, said that this
committee doesn't recognize the given "friendship group with the
parliament of the so-called Nagorno-Karabakh" as a working group
on inter-parliamentary relations, because such working groups can
be established only with the parliaments of states that have been
recognized de jure.
"The legal basis for the establishment of a friendship group with
the 'parliament of Nagorno-Karabakh' does not meet the requirements
cited in the Charter of the Lithuanian Seim. According to these
requirements, 'a working group on inter-parliamentary relations'
can only be created with the parliaments of those countries that are
legally recognized by the state. Therefore, the organization is not
recognized as a 'group on inter-parliamentary relations' and in no
way reflects the official view of the Lithuanian state. With regard
to the measures proposed by the Society of Lithuanian Azerbaijanis
and the Lithuania-Azerbaijan Association on optimization of rules of
establishing inter-parliamentary working groups, they will be taken
into account when proposals are made for the improvement of the Seim
Charter," says the official response of the chairman of the committee
on law of the Seim Julius Sabatauskas to the request of the Azerbaijani
organizations in Lithuania.
According to Vitaliyus Karakorskis, the decision of the Seim committees
shows that the attempts of the Armenian reactionary forces to create a
"friendship group with the Parliament of Nagorno-Karabakh" have failed.
Nazim Ibrahimov said on Facebook that it is for the first time that
members of parliament admitted their mistake since the establishment
of the parliament of independent Lithuania. According to Ibrahimov,
the proposals made by the Azerbaijani organizations will soon be
adopted by the Lithuanian Seim.
"It also should be noted that these decisive measures on elimination
of the 'friendship group with the parliament of Nagorno-Karabakh'
were taken as a result of the lobbying activities of the Azerbaijani
Diaspora in Lithuania and with the support of the initiative friends
of Azerbaijan in Lithuania," Ibrahimov wrote.
Nagorno-Karabakh is an Azerbaijani region occupied by Armenia along
with seven adjacent regions since a war fought by the two South
Caucasus republics in the early 1990s. Years of OSCE-brokered peace
talks have been largely fruitless so far.
http://www.azernews.az/azerbaijan/57552.html
From: A. Papazian