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Ganira Pashayeva: â€œDevelopments in Armenia increase tensions in the regionâ€

27 January 2009 13:42 (UTC +04:00)

Strasbourg. Alexander Kinâ€“APA. â€œUnfortunately our Armenian colleagues aggressively react to the speeches of Azerbaijani parliamentarians in the discussions on the situation in Armenia, situation of the democratic institutions and organizations and commitments undertaken by Armenia to the Council of Europeâ€, said Azerbaijani parliamentarian Ganira Pashayeva in her speech at the PACE session, APA correspondent reports from Strasbourg.

She said Azerbaijan, rather than other members of the Council of Europe, concern over the developments in Armenia. â€œThis country keeps 20 percent of Azerbaijanâ€™s territory under occupation for more than 15 years and continues to trample on the rights of one million Azerbaijani refugees and displaced persons tackling them to return home. We have to seriously think over the developments in Armenia, because it increases tensions in the region. There is no progress in the negotiations over the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh problem because of non-constructive position of Armenian government. Armenian armed forces fired on the peaceful residents of Azerbaijan from the posts they set in the occupied Azerbaijani lands, killed and wounded with sniperâ€™s bullets. They commit arsons in the Azerbaijani lands and enjoy with it when the fire covers houses and farms of Azerbaijani people. Recently I invited the French, Norwegian, Israeli, Chinese, Indian and other ambassadors to bordering Tovuz Region, where I run for the Parliament, and they witnessed how the Azerbaijani cemeteries were burned by the Armenian armed forces in the border areas. The ambassadors strongly condemned these actionsâ€.

Ganira Pashayeva said Armenia refused to fulfill PACE resolutions 1609 and 1620 adopted in the spring session. â€œOpposition leaders were arrested in quarters in Armenia, the arrested oppositionists were not released yet and originators of March 1 events were not punished. During the hearings at the US Congress Helsinki Commission on the elections and March events in Armenia, one of the Congressmen said that he was horrified with the anti-Semitism in Armenia. We were emphasizing, for many years, the Armeniaâ€™s mono-ethnic policy and expelling hundred thousands of Azerbaijanis from their homes with force and tortures. We have to think about the developments in Armenia seriously and to pass serious decisions. We have not to forget that any unpunished crime will arise other oneâ€.