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TEAS agrees with Ashton’s criticism on today’s illegal ’elections’ in Nagorno-Karabakh

20 July 2012 13:19 (UTC +04:00)

Baroness Ashton said that the EU â€œdoes not recognize the constitutional and legal frameworkâ€ in which â€˜presidential electionsâ€™ are taking place today in Nagorno-Karabakh and commented that they â€œshould not prejudice the determination of the future status of Nagorno-Karabakh.â€ She urged that greater efforts should be exerted to find a negotiated solution and underlined â€œthe EUâ€™s readiness to provide further support to efforts in this direction.â€

Leon Cook, Director of Communications, TEAS, welcomed â€œthis important statement of the EUâ€™s positionâ€, which acknowledges that the occupied region is internationally recognized Azerbaijani territory, and the increased attention that Baroness Ashton and the EU institutions have paid to the conflict in recent months. He urged the redoubling of efforts by the EU to help solve a conflict that threatens regional stability, adding â€œwe remain committed to co-operating constructively with the European institutions in order to achieve this goal.â€

He noted Baroness Ashtonâ€™s support for the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, but said: â€œUnfortunately, the OSCE Minsk Group has not yet achieved any success in its efforts towards settlement of the conflict, which is continuing to destabilize the whole region. We believe strongly that peaceful conflict resolution is the only guarantee for the economic and social stability of the South Caucasus.â€

Mr. Cook said that todayâ€™s EU statement was in line with the unequivocal condemnation by the EU of all previous â€˜electionsâ€™ in occupied Nagorno-Karabakh. He said that four outstanding United Nations Security Council resolutions have stipulated that Armenian troops should leave Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven surrounding districts, which have remained occupied for almost 20 years.