ISSUE OF TERRITORIES SURROUNDING KARABAKH TO BE PUT ON UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY AGENDA

Yesterday the UN General Committee viewed the request of Permanent Representative of Azerbaijan to include an item on the situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan in the agenda of the UN General Assembly. According to the site of the organization, by a show of hands vote of nine in favor with none against and 14 abstentions, the Committee recommended the inclusion of the item. To note, the document contained an explanatory memorandum stating that the activities of the OSCE Minsk Group have brought no effect, while illegal activities are currently being carried out in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, in particular, by transfer of settlers to artificially create a new demographic situation in those territories. In response to this, Armenian Ambassador said that first, there was the former autonomous region of Nagorno Karabakh, which had always and continued to be Armenian-populated. Then, there were the territories surrounding Nagorno Karabakh, which had come under the control of Nagorno Karabakh Armenians as a result of the war unleashed by Azerbaijan in an attempt to stifle the peaceful drive of the people of those territories for self-determination. It is obvious, he said, that there were no settlements outside of Nagorno Karabakh proper, in territories controlled by Armenian forces. Nor was there a policy to settle those lands.