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European Parliament member: â€œNagorno Karabakh is the part of Azerbaijan and was occupied by self-named governmentâ€ â€“ INTERVIEW

European Parliament member: â€œNagorno Karabakh is the part of Azerbaijan and was occupied by self-named governmentâ€ â€“ <font color=red> INTERVIEW </font>

28 January 2011 09:01 (UTC +04:00)

Starsbourg. Fouad Gulubeyli â€“ APA. Member of the European Parliament from Germany Joachim Zellerâ€™s interview to APA

- Today there is cooperation between Azerbaijan and the European Union. What is the level of cooperation and are you satisfied with the level of cooperation?

- Yes, we are very interested in the cooperation with all countries outside the European Union belonging to Europe and also Azerbaijan, which is, I think, very important country in this region and the Caucasus. Thatâ€™s why it is necessary for us to establish good relations with Azerbaijan.

- How do you appreciate the integration of Azerbaijan and the steps taken by Azerbaijan to integrate into Europe?

- We appreciate it very well. I think after the long Soviet period there is still long way to go for Azerbaijan too, but I think and I very hopeful that the people and the government of Azerbaijan will reach their goal.

- The greatest problem of Azerbaijan is Nagorno Karabakh. The territory of Azerbaijan was occupied by Armenian military forces. What is your position about that occupation firstly and do you think that the European Parliament can do more for the resolution of the conflict?

- As I know still a lot of resolutions not only of the European Parliament, but also the UN General Assembly. I hope, Armenia and Azerbaijan, as partners of the European Union, want to find solution on the basis of international law without violence. Nagorno Karabakh is the part of Azerbaijan and was occupied by self-named government, but we must also recognize that Armenian people also live in Nagorno Karabakh. The sides should respect the rights of each other and find peaceful solution. EU is very interested to establish relations with all countries of the Eastern Partnership. This conflict is big obstacle for us to come to good relations with Azerbaijan and Armenia.

- Territorial integrity of Azerbaijan has been recognized by the European Parliament and all of the members of EP respect this fact. There are a lot of double standards and what do you think about that?

- At first, now after the Lisbon Treaty we have common service for external affairs of the European Union now and that time policy of foreign affairs was mainly the thing of member states. Now we have the external action service in phase of establishing.
Future of Azerbaijan is on good way and we are very interested that Azerbaijan is now self-determined country finding its own way to future and the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan will be restored.