Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

The “referendum” held in the temporarily occupied territories of Azerbaijan violates not only the Constitution of Azerbaijan, but also the norms and principles of international law, and, accordingly, cannot have legal force.

Georgian political scientist Guram Markhulia made the remarks in an interview with Day.az.

The so-called “constitutional referendum” was held on February 20 in Azerbaijan’s occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is now ruled by a puppet regime controlled by Armenia.

Markhulia said that all these attempts show that Armenia is not interested in a political solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. “Obviously, the illegal regime, established by Armenia in the occupied Azerbaijani territories, demonstrates a policy of aggression and capture,” the expert said.

He reminded that Nagorno-Karabakh is an Azerbaijani territory, which is recognized by all international organizations and states.

“Four UN resolutions were adopted supporting this fact and demanding the withdrawal of occupying forces of Armenia from the Azerbaijani territories. Therefore, undertaking of this "action", regardless of its results, has no legal force,” Murgulia said.

The expert further noted that Armenia through its political insinuations tries to show the international community that Nagorno-Karabakh is allegedly a separate "country" and "Karabakh people" are supposedly trying to amend at "referendum" the allegedly existing in the occupied territories "constitution."

Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry, as well as the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair states, namely Russia, the U.S. and France, and a number of other countries, including Georgia, confirmed that they do not recognize the “referendum” in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia still controls fifth part of Azerbaijan's territory and rejects implementing four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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