Largest European party condemns violent clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh
On April 5 the European People’s Party (EPP) has adopted an emergency resolution regarding the outbreak of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh, expressing its “deep concern by recent disturbing news from the Line of Contact between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan”.
European Friends of Armenia (EuFoA, www.EuFoA.org) welcomes this document. “First of all, it is a very important signal that the largest European party took such a swift and clear stance on the conflict, and we hope that other pan-European organizations and institutions will follow suit”, comments EuFoA Director, Mr Eduardo Lorenzo Ochoa. “In our opinion, this is a positive message in the good direction. We believe in the importance of including Nagorno-Karabakh in the negotiations for a peaceful solution to the conflict.”
The resolution also calls for immediate withdrawal of the military troops to the positions they held before 1 April, echoing other international voices.
Finally, the resolution states that the conflict must be solved by peaceful political means and reiterates “support to return to the negotiation process mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs”. As EuFoA Director adds, “Negotiations for a peaceful solutions should resume immediately, to avoid any further loss of human lives. The clashes so far resulted in several dozen victims on both sides, and what is particularly worrying is that among them are civilians. So far at least one child on the Karabakhi side lost his life, and there were several reports of other civilian victims mutilated by the Azerbaijani army.”
The EPP adopted this emergency resolution during its Political Assembly in Brussels.
To consult the full text of the resolution, please follow this link: http://www.epp.eu/papers/epp-emergency-resolution-on-nagorno-karabakh-conflict/
EuFoA is happy to provide commenting or background analysis in English, French, Spanish, Polish, Italian, Russian and Armenian. Members of the Europe-Armenia Advisory Council may also be available for comments; for enquiries please contact our secretariat.
For more information on EuFoA and the Europe-Armenia Advisory Council, please visit our website at www.EuFoA.org.
High resolution picture material is always available on our website and upon request. It is free to use with a reference “Copyright: www.EuFoA.org”.