Brussels 5 October – Forty-eight Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from all the main political groups sent a letter to the HR/VP of the European Commission Josep Borrell, expressing their dismay over the military aggression of Azerbaijan against the native civilian population of Artsakh/Nagorno Karabakh. In particular, the MEPs state: “We, the undersigned Members of the European Parliament are appalled by and call the Azerbaijani army to immediately stop the aggression against the civilian population of Nagorno-Karabakh”.
The MEPs are calling on the head of the EU diplomacy to undertake meaningful actions against the Azerbaijani aggression and to help resolve the conflict. The letter to the EU HR/VP is an initiative by MEP Loucas Fourlas (EPP, Cyprus).
In the letter, the MEPs elaborate that since 27.09.2020 the indigenous civilian population of Artsakh/Nagorno Karabakh has been under attack by the Azerbaijani armed forces, “in gross violation of international humanitarian law and the logic of the Nagorno Karabakh peace process”. They are calling on the EU HR Borrell “to exercise high pressure to halt any interference by Turkey, de facto destabilizing yet another neighboring region in the South Caucasus.” The MEPs also stress the importance of the OSCE investigative mechanism for ceasefire violations. Unlike Armenia, Azerbaijan has continuously rejected to install this mechanism which would enable to find out which side violates the ceasefire.
Commenting on the initiative of the MEPs, the President of the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy Kaspar Karampetian stated: “Turkey and Azerbaijan have crossed the red line. Today the politicians in Europe have begun to understand what the Aliyev regime is capable of. Azerbaijan is now a country that is being associated with Islamic terrorism. The dictatorial tandem Aliyev-Erdogan is doomed to fail since it embodies hatred not only towards the Armenians across the globe but also because if embodies contempt towards human lives, including that of the citizens of their own countries. The EAFJD and our committees continue their active work of shedding light on the developments both vis-à-vis the European institutions and the EU Member states.”
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Please find below the full text of the letter
Dear HR/VP Borrell,
We write to you to express our outmost concern for the situation in Artsakh⁄Nagorno-Karabakh and submit the following requests:
As of Sunday morning, 27 September, the Artsakh population has been under attack by the Azerbaijani armed forces, in gross violation of international humanitarian law and the logic of the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process.
The missile and aerial attacks against the indigenous population in Nagorno-Karabakh, including the capital Stepanakert, forced civilians to hide inside shelters. Schools in Nagorno-Karabakh have been bombed while there are numerous casualties across the region.
We, the undersigned Members of the European Parliament are appalled by this and call on the Azerbaijani army to immediately stop the aggression against the civilian population of Nagorno-Karabakh.
We call upon the EU High Representative Josep Borrell to take immediate and concrete measures on this direction.
We recall and stress that the OSCE investigative mechanism for cease-fire violations which would prevent the sides from blaming each other for initiating deadly attacks, is an absolute necessity for regaining trust and a meaningful negotiation process.
We also call you, High Representative Borrell, to exercise high pressure to halt any interference by Turkey, de facto destabilising yet another neighbouring region, the South Caucasus. The disputed area of Nagorno-Karabakh is in urgent need of a peaceful solution. Any kind of escalation due to the involvement of third countries, such as Turkey, will rapidly worsen the situation with unpredictable consequences for the whole region.
We expect to see meaningful actions to help resolve this conflict from your side very quickly.
Yours sincerely,
The undersigned Members of the European Parliament:
Loucas Fourlas
Lefteris Christoforou
Roberta Metsola
Peter Van Dalen
Fabio Massimo Castaldo
Maria Spyraki
Anna-Michelle Asimakopoulou
Evangelos-Vasileios Meimarakis
Attila Ara Kovacs
Theodoros Zagorakis
Derk Jan Epping
Eva Kaili
Lars Patrick Berg
Georgios Kyrtsos
Ausra Maldekiene
Carles Puigdemont
Stelios Kympouropoulos
Elena Kountoura
Maximilian Krah
Martin Sonneborn
Emmanouil Fragkos
Janina Ochojska
Ivan Stefanec
Petros Kokkalis
Demetris Papadakis
Stelios Kouloglou
Helmut Geuking
Alexis Georgoulis
Dimitrios Papadimoulis
Manolis Kefalogiannis
Peter Lundgren
Charlie Weimers
Marco Dreosto
Costas Mavrides
Michele Rivasi
Annie Schreijer- Pierik
Dorien Rookmaker
Chrysoula Zacharopoulou
Francois Alfonsi
Eliza Vozemberg
Joachim Kuhs
Erik Marquardt
Anna Cinzia Bonfrisco
Nikos Androulakis
Karen Melchior
Francois-Xavier Bellamy
Assita Kanko
Frederique Ries
EAFJD