Azerbaijan Fends Off "Biased" Euronest Proposals in the Interests of Nagorno-Karabakh

BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Azerbaijan has successfully blocked more than 25 "biased and immoral" proposals before the Spring Session of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly in Brussels that it says threatened its sovereignty and its "legitimate" bid to regain the Armenian-occupied territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The proposals and amendments had been added to a resolution on regional security challenges by Armenia and its EU supporters - an irony not lost in the Azerbaijan delegation since Armenia's occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh is the dominant regional security challenge for Azerbaijan.

Chairman of Azerbaijani Delegation to Euronest PA, Elkhan Suleymanov, managed to block the amendments - some of which he branded "absurd" and many of which he deemed to be outright "dangerous".

"By managing to delete all non-objective proposals by Armenians and some supportive MEPs, and most of these proposals directly questioning the sovereignty of Azerbaijan, we could eventually secure our national interests," he said after the session in Brussels.

"I accepted to withdraw a few amendments tabled by the Azerbaijani delegation to respect the spirit of cooperation between the European Parliament and Eastern partner countries yet it doesn't make sense to have these kind of forums if we can't discuss our problems openly and find solutions to them", said Suleymanov.

He added his nation remains ready to discuss Nagorno-Karabakh in any democratic forum but he has no illusions about the challenge his nation faces.  Armenia appeals to what he calls the "so-called common European Christian legacy" and has effectively used this to rally support within the EU and the wider international community.

The amendments from the Armenian side included a proposal to open the borders of occupied territories, which in the case of Nagorno-Karabakh would have breached "all international standards and practices".

There was also a call for cooperation between the EU and "de facto authorities" - which is an unacceptable euphemism for occupied territories; and in the same vein a text describing "conflicts in Georgia and Nagorno-Karabakh" instead of "conflicts affecting Georgia and Azerbaijan". Categorically rejecting such proposals, Suleymanov said he would continue to call on the international community to abide by numerous international resolutions on Nagorno-Karabakh based on the principle of territorial integrity.

Armenia continues to occupy 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory in the two decades since the war in which 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and more than one million displaced. Suleymanov said despite the fractious session last week he remains committed to resolving Nagorno-Karabakh through Euronest PA and other international bodies.