907th meeting – 24 November 2004

Item 3.1bc

Written Questions from members of the Parliamentary Assembly to the Committee of Ministers

c.         Written Question No. 448 from Mr Seyidov: “Settlement of civilian population by Armenia in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan”

The Representative of Azebaijan made the following statement:

“At the very outset, I would like to recall that for the sake of compromise Azerbaijan was ready to accept the draft replies with respect to the written questions 446 and 448 prepared by the Secretariat.   In this context we express our regret that the Committee of Ministers was not able to adopt replies to the subjects of particular concern for Azerbaijan. This delegation forwarded its comments on the relevant letter from the Chair of the Deputies to the President of the PACE.

Referring to the written question No. 446 on ”The situation over the Metsamor atomic station in Armenia”, which is a subject of concern for the countries of the region and even far beyond it, we would like to see in the text reflection of urgency and seriousness of the problem, as well as the international demands for the closure of this plant.

I reiterate our hope that the CoE will continue to watch closely on the issue of the Metsamor NPP guiding by principle of right of people to live in safe and health environment and recognizing the degree of the danger of continuation of its operation. Systematic and frequent incidents occur in the nuclear power plants equipped with depreciated old Soviet type reactors warn that nobody should forget about shared responsibility in case of any accident in Metsamor, which immediately puts all of us on the brink of catastrophe.

As for the written question No. 448 on ”Settlement of civilian population by Armenia in the occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan”, this delegation addressed this issue in the most detailed form during its previous discussion.

Today, I would like to reiterate that these dangerous developments in the occupied territories consolidate the results of the armed aggression against Azerbaijan and undermine the negotiations on the settlement of the conflict in and around the Mountainous Garabakh region of the Republic of Azerbaijan carried on under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group.

The information circulated among all delegations by our request consists of reports from different sources including Armenian ones, on 23,000 settlers who moved into the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. Armenia intends to increase the Armenian population on the occupied territories from currently reported 143,000 to 300,000 by year 2010, whereas before the conflict a number of Armenians inhabiting the Mountainous Garabakh region of Azerbaijan hardly reached 120,000.

Furthermore, Armenia also consolidates its occupation of the Azerbaijani territory through economic and financial-monetary policy. Thus, the Central Bank of Armenia regulates the banking system of this puppet regime established in the occupied territories. The provision in the Law on the 2003 State Budget of the Republic of Armenia on extension of the budgetary loan to the illegal criminal separatist regime on the occupied territories till January 2006, as well as other facts testify the direct involvement of Armenia into all illegal activities including settlement, which are being done in an organized manner with the purpose of annexation of these territories.  

These activities constitute gross violation of the relevant provisions of international humanitarian law and should be dealt with by the international community in all its aspects in order to stop and reverse them.

We belief that the Committee will return to consideration of this matter in the near future. However, there is a risk that it may happen in a different significantly aggravated situation and conditions, as a consequence of present unavailability by the Committee to properly address this matter.”

The Representative of Armenia made the following statement:

“The Representative of Azerbaijan has just, once again, referred to the question of the so-called “settlement” of the area around Nagorno-Karabakh, currently under the control of the Armenian forces of Nagorno-Karabakh.

First of all, I would like to point out that our Committee has, in connection with Mr Seyidov’s Written Question, already addressed this issue, although admittedly we were unable to reach agreement on a reply.

On this point, I would like to reiterate my authorities’ official position that Armenia has no settlement policy.

For its part, Azerbaijan has not adduced the slightest factual justification for these allegations; no observer, rapporteur or other official recently in the region has made any mention of the problem of Armenian settlers in this area.

The document distributed by the Azerbaijani delegation, in essence, refers to examples of Armenians returning to Nagorno-Karabakh, and in our view this has nothing to do with the substance of the written question from the Assembly member in question.

In this connection, it should first of all be stressed that Nagorno-Karabakh has always been and continues to be populated by an overwhelming majority of Armenians.

In 1923, Armenians accounted for 94.4% of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh.

According to the census carried out in 1989 by the Soviet Union, it was estimated that there were more than 145,000 Armenians living there, accounting for almost 80% of that region’s population.

Second, the majority of Armenians who have returned to live in Nagorno-Karabakh are refugees from Azerbaijan who fled the major Azerbaijani cities and towns, such as Baku, Sumgait and Kirovabad at the time of the anti-Armenian pogroms organised in 1989-1990, or those living in the regions neighbouring Nagorno-Karabakh, having been compelled to abandon their villages and their property as a result of the armed conflict.

Only a very tiny proportion of the 400,000 Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan have been able to return to Nagorno-Karabakh to find refuge and security.

At the same time, we would like to draw delegations’ attention to the situation in the regions adjoining Nagorno-Karabakh (the region of Shahumian and Getashen) or once part of it (the regions of Mardakert and Martuni), which until 1992 were populated by Armenians.

Following the armed conflict, almost 50,000 Armenians living in these parts were victims of ethnic cleansing by the Azerbaijani authorities and were obliged to flee these regions, currently occupied by Azerbaijan.

The Azerbaijani authorities have, since then, pursued a policy of settling Azeris in the Armenian villages located in these regions.

 

This has resulted in the spoliation and confiscation of the property of these refugees, the destruction of monuments and of all traces of an Armenian presence.

Such a policy is a violation of the fundamental rights of these Armenian refugees to return to live in their homes in complete safety and security, and will inevitably create new obstacles to finding a settlement to this conflict.   

Recently, it was proposed that a fact-finding mission be sent to the area to get a better understanding of the situation.

The Armenian delegation wishes to confirm that it is not opposed in principle to such a mission, provided it takes due account of the concerns of all parties.

For our part, we believe that the OSCE and its Minsk Group is the forum in which all questions related to the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be addressed; this delegation is therefore in favour of such a mission being organised by the co-chairs of the OSCE’s Minsk Group, who, moreover, have already contemplated such an option; it is at this level that we would prefer action to be taken.”