Azerbaijan Praises Italy’s Nagorno-Karabakh Approach

Italian parliamentarians take balanced decisions on Nagorno-Karabakh and bilateral ties between Azerbaijan and Armenia, while Dutch parliamentarians’ decisions are “prejudiced and one-sided,” Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesperson said last week, Anadolu Agency reported.

The decisions, adopted by the House of Representatives of the Italian Parliament’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs on Tuesday on the state of implementation of the Armenia-Azerbaijan deal, invited both sides to be constructive, said Leyla Abdullayeva in a written statement.

The Italian parliament displayed a well-balanced attitude and told the government to create conditions for future reconciliation between Azerbaijan and Armenia to promote trust-building measures, Abdullayeva noted, saying the parliament also stressed the importance of both sides’ asking each other to deliver the maps of the mined areas.

Abdullayeva also reminded that on Feb. 25, the Foreign Relations Committee of the Dutch Parliament adopted an “unfounded and completely unilateral” resolution on the “call to release prisoners of war arrested by Azerbaijan.”

Describing the Dutch parliamentarians’ decision as “prejudiced,” Abdullayeva said: “Although Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok opposed the decision and suggested that both sides be called on the prisoners, there was no correction in the decision”.

“This once again shows that parliamentarians of some countries consider their biased attitudes superior to anything else, including efforts to achieve peace in the region,” she added.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought for six weeks over Nagorno-Karabakh last year after new clashes erupted on Sept. 27. The Armenian army launched attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces and violated several humanitarian cease-fire agreements.

During the conflict, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and nearly 300 settlements and villages from the Armenian occupation.

The two countries signed a Russian-brokered agreement on Nov. 10 to end the fighting and work towards a comprehensive resolution.