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Written question on foreign companiesâ€™ involvement in illegal activity in Azerbaijanâ€™s occupied lands presented to the PACE Committee of Ministers

16 January 2007 16:32 (UTC +04:00)

Ganira Pashayeva told the APA that the written questions on the foreign companiesâ€™ involvement in illegal activities in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan touch upon Armeniaâ€™s continuing to occupy 20% of Azerbaijani territory, ethnic cleansing carried out by the Armenian armed forces, eviction of some 1 million Azerbaijani people who have lived under unbearable conditions as Internally Displaced People (IDP), Armeniaâ€™s vandalizing Azerbaijanâ€™s historical and cultural monuments and trying to wipe out the traces of Azerbaijanis.
â€œPace Resolution 1416 (2003) demands that Armenia has to withdraw from the occupied lands of Azerbaijan and internally displaced people should return to their homeland.
During the period as from the adoption of this resolution, Armenia has not honoured the resolution and even enlarged non-compliance with international legal norms and conventions in the occupied territories. Anyway, in contradiction to the international conventions, Armenia and the separatist Nagorno Karabakh managed to attract a number of foreign companies to make investment in these territories illegally.
At present, some 70 foreign companies have been involved in illegal activities in these lands without authorization of Azerbaijan. There are companies of the USA, Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and others among the involved. 897 hectares of forests were destroyed during the eight-month period of 2006. There are seven wood manufacturing plants working illegally in the occupied territories. Armenians waste water resources in Lachin and Kalbajar, the occupied regions,â€? she underlined.
She said that the questions include the full list of the companies and the countries.
Ganira Pashayeva referred to Hague Convention IV on Laws and Customs of War on Land, saying that Article 55 reads:
â€œThe occupying state shall be regarded only as administrator and usufructuary of public buildings, real estate, forests and agricultural estates belonging to the hostile State, and situated in the occupied territory. It must safeguard the capital of these properties, and administer them in accordance with the rules of usufruct. In other words, title to such property shall not pass to the occupying State, and upon termination of the war, the seized items and real estate shall be restored. According to Oppenheim, immovable private enemy property may under no circumstances or conditions be appropriated by an invading belligerent. Should it confiscate and sell private land or buildings, the buyer would acquire no right whatever to the propertyâ€¦ if the occupant has appropriated and sold such private or public property as may not legitimately be appropriated by a military occupant, it may afterwards be claimed from the purchaser without payment of compensation,â€? she mentioned.
Having expressed deep concern over illegal actions of Armenia and the separatist regime of Nagorno Karabakh, which are contradictory to the international conventions, Ganira Pashayeva asks the Committee of Ministers:
-Whether Council of Europe would urge member-states to review and put an end to their respective national companiesâ€™ involvement into illegal activities in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan pursued in collaboration with the occupying authorities and without consent of the Government of Azerbaijan?
-Why Foreign Ministers of member states donâ€™t provide complete information on their respective national companiesâ€™ involvement into illegal activities in the occupied lands of Azerbaijan, as well as in other conflict zones throughout the Council of Europe space such as Abkhazia and South Ossetia? This could simplify setting up monitoring group dealing with investigation into the state of the natural resources in the conflict zones.
-Why the Committee of Ministers refrain from making use of effective mechanisms at its disposal to influence the Government of Armenia to abstain in the future from actions that prevent lasting peace in the region from being achieved, including its continued non-compliance with PACE Resolution 1416 (2003)? /APA/