The government of Pakistan did not send any observers for the so-called referendum in Nagorno-Karabakh, the country’s Foreign Ministry told APA.
The so-called referendum was held Feb. 20 in the Azerbaijani territories, occupied by Armenia, to amend the illegal regime’s “constitution.”
The Foreign Ministry of Pakistan rejected the Armenian media reports on alleged participation of “observers” from Pakistan in the “referendum”, expressing support for Azerbaijan’s stance on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
“Pakistan's position is that the solution has to be found within the territory of Azerbaijan i.e. complete return of occupied Azerbaijani lands by Armenia, in accordance with the resolutions of the UN Security Council, withdrawal of Armenian army from Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent districts and return of IDPs and refugees to their homes,” said the Foreign Ministry.
The Foreign Ministry stated that Pakistan is a member of the OIC Contact Group on aggression of the Republic of Armenia against the Republic of Azerbaijan.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict entered its modern phase when the Armenian SRR made territorial claims against the Azerbaijani SSR in 1988.
A fierce war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. As a result of the war, Armenian armed forces occupied some 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory which includes Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts (Lachin, Kalbajar, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Gubadli and Zangilan), and over a million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced people.
The military operations finally came to an end when Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in Bishkek in 1994.
Dealing with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the OSCE Minsk Group, which was created after the meeting of the CSCE (OSCE after the Budapest summit held in Dec.1994) Ministerial Council in Helsinki on 24 March 1992. The Group’s members include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belarus, Finland and Sweden.
Besides, the OSCE Minsk Group has a co-chairmanship institution, comprised of Russian, the US and French co-chairs, which began operating in 1996.
Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 of the UN Security Council, which were passed in short intervals in 1993, and other resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly, PACE, OSCE, OIC, and other organizations require Armenia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh.
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