The scenes from Azerbaijan remind of the experience of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the country has every right to defend its territorial integrity after artillery attacks by Armenian forces, the leader of the main Bosniak country in the country and the House of Peoples MP, Bakir Izetbegovic, on Monday.
“We are deeply concerned about the situation in Azerbaijan after the artillery attacks by the Armenian forces. Under international law, the Nagorno-Karabakh region belongs to the territory of Azerbaijan, and the declaration of war by Armenia represents another military aggression that must not be tolerated, especially since the target of the Armenian attacks was the civilian population,” said the leader of the Party for Democratic Action (SDA).
“The scenes from Azerbaijan remind us in every way of the experience of Bosnia and Herzegovina when our country was also exposed to brutal military aggression with the aim of expelling the population and fragmenting its territory,” he added.
The Bosniak leader stressed that Azerbaijan has every right to defend its territorial integrity, as well as an obligation to not allow the recurrence of mass crimes against its civilian population committed by Armenian forces during the 1990s when numerous refugees were expelled and later prevented from returning to their homes.
He emphasised that institutions of the international community, primarily the OSCE, are obliged to react on the basis of UN Security Council resolutions which clearly ordered the withdrawal of the occupying Armenian forces from the territory of Azerbaijan.
“Any encouragement of Armenia’s illegal actions through the indecisive or neutral position of the international community works in favour of further escalation of the conflict. That is why it is important to provide precise and decisive support to the Azerbaijani authorities on this issue,” he said.