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OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's Annual Session in Baku features heated debates over regional conflicts
Regional conflicts have become the subject of heated debates at the meeting of the Standing Committee as part of the 23rd Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Baku.
Submitted by deputy head of the U.S. delegation to the OSCE PA, Senator Benjamin Cardin, an anti-Russian supplementary resolution on the Ukraine issue sparked serious protest.
In her remarks, deputy chairwoman of the Azerbaijani parliament, head of the Azerbaijani delegation to the OSCE PA Bahar Muradova said: “Azerbaijan`s lands are under occupation, which continues for more than 20 years. As a result of the conflict more than one million Azerbaijani citizens became refugees and internally displaced. They are waiting for the adoption of a resolution on the conflict. We now have a chance to combine our efforts for preventing conflicts in the OSCE region. International law is now experiencing regress. We can adopt a resolution that will apply to all conflicts. We want that the resolution is applied to the entire OSCE region.”
She said: “We have always tried to raise the issue of territorial integrity, sovereignty, inviolability of borders. And truth already started to be understood. But we missed 22 years. The OSCE has turned from an organization tackling threats into an organization just registering them. For years, we have urged the OSCE Minsk Group to fulfill its duties. But no sharp document has ever been adopted. We support peaceful settlement of the Ukraine issue. This is the position of our state.”
Ms. Muradova said: Why do you forget about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict? For 22 years the OSCE, including the USA, has failed to make any tangible result.”
“I have repeatedly told deputy head of the U.S. delegation to the OSCE PA, Senator Benjamin Cardin that as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group the USA must make serious steps towards fulfilling its commitments related to the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.”
“We`ve been waiting for our occupied lands to be returned for 22 years. We have been waiting for you. More than million refugees and IDPs have been waiting for you. And despite we have been waiting for you to adopt such a resolution for 22 years, you again easily ignore us and present a one-sided draft resolution on a new conflict. We think that the OSCE now has a chance to prevent the existing and emerging conflicts in the region. So we propose and demand that Mr. Cardin includes all conflicts in this resolution so that it covers interests of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova in a balanced manner. Or he can take this document back, work on it and present at an event when we will celebrate the anniversary of ‘Helsinki+40’. This draft resolution is now limited, one-sided and does not cover all the conflicts in the region. So we are against the adoption of this resolution in its present form,” said Ms. Muradova.