Kyiv rules out recognition of ‘elections’ in Azerbaijan’s separatist region
By Sara Rajabova
Kyiv has ruled out recognition of the so-called ‘elections’ in Azerbaijan’s occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region.
The Ukrainian foreign ministry said on September 14 that these ‘elections’ held in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, cannot have legal outcome.
The so-called ‘elections’ to the ‘self-governing bodies’ of the puppet separatist regime that installed by Armenia in Azerbaijan’s occupied territories were held on September 13.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry said Kyiv stands for peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on the principles of respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan within its internationally recognized borders.
Many countries have already denounced the so-called “elections” as illegitimate. The French and UK embassies in Azerbaijan stated that their countries don’t recognize “elections” in the separatist region of Azerbaijan.
Earlier, the U.S. Department of State said “the so-called elections in no way prejudge the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh or the outcome of the ongoing negotiations to bring a lasting peaceful settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.”
Azerbaijan condemned the so-called ‘elections’, describing it as an open violation of international law, stating that it does not have any legal weight.
Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that caused a brutal war in the early 1990s.
Following the invasion of Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia established a separatist regime in the occupied territories and strives for recognition of the puppet regime from the international community.
As a result of the military aggression of Armenia, over 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed, 4,866 are reported missing, almost 100,000 were injured, and 50,000 were disabled.
Long-standing efforts by U.S., Russian, and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.The UN Security Council has passed four resolutions on the Armenian withdrawal from Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been enforced to this day.
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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova
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