Separatist “elections” in Garabagh draw international condemnation Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity is unshakeable

The so-called “presidential elections” held last week by the Armenian separatists in the Garabagh region of Azerbaijan have faced strong international condemnation and international support for the latter’s territorial integrity.

On September 12, the UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric recalled the UN Security Council resolutions from the early 1990s to denounce the sham polls of the separatists.

“We would like to recall the Security Council's resolutions affirming the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and call for its full respect,” he said in a daily press briefing on September 12.

Dujarric added that UN Secretary-General António Guterres urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to intensify efforts towards a long-term normalisation to the benefit of peace and security in the region.

Four resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council in 1993, at the height of the Armenia-Azerbaijan First Garabagh War, demanded immediate withdrawal of the occupying forces from the Azerbaijani territories. By the adoption of the last resolution on November 12, 1993, the Armenian military occupied the Garabagh region and seven surrounding districts of Azerbaijan. In its resolutions, the UN referred to them as the “recently occupied territories of Azerbaijan”.

Shortly after the end of the war in 1994, the Armenian government established a separatist entity in those lands. Over the years, Yerevan has intensively channelled funds and weapons to consolidate its illegal existence within Azerbaijan’s borders.

Remnants of the separatists are still nestled in Garabagh despite Azerbaijan's liberation of its occupied lands in 2020. They are still seen in the areas temporarily monitored by the Russian peacekeepers, who were tasked to ensure their immediate withdrawal after the end of the 44-day Armenia-Azerbaijan war on November 10, 2020.

The Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan said the puppet separatist regime in Garabagh is the consequence of the Armenian aggression and ethnic cleansing policy that continued for nearly 30 years. The ministry blamed Yerevan for illegally backing its existence through military, political, financial and other types of support.

“Holding the so-called “elections” once again clearly shows that Armenia and the puppet regime created by it, which have taken steps to maintain the status quo and continue its occupation policy, are not really interested in the peace process, on the contrary, have taken the path of provocation and escalating the situation,” reads the ministry’s statement from September 9.

The ministry also urged the international community, in accordance with their obligations within international law, to strongly condemn the illegal activities named as “elections”.

The separatist formation in Garabagh held shambolic elections on September 9 to elect a new “president”. The sham polls came after the self-designed former “president” announced his resignation in early September. The recent voting pulled Samvel Shahramanyan out of the box as the next leader of the separatists to fill Harutunyan’s shoes.

Samvel Shahramanyan

In his first remarks as a self-proclaimed “president”, Shahramanyan urged a so-called “status” for Garabagh and “self-determination” rights of the Armenian minority living in the region.

The US government has responded to Baku’s calls by denouncing the existence of a separatist “republic” within Azerbaijan’s borders.

“We do not recognize Nagorno-Garabagh [Garabagh] as an independent and sovereign state, and therefore we do not recognize the results of those so-called presidential elections that were announced over the last few days,” the US Department of State’s Spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a press briefing on September 11.

He added that the United States is determined to strongly support efforts by Armenia and Azerbaijan to resolve outstanding issues through direct dialogue.

The governments of Türkiye, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Bulgaria, Iran, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine, as well as the Islamic Cooperation Organisation, TURKPA & others also condemned the bogus polls of the separatists and voiced support for the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

Garabagh is Azerbaijan

Armenia and Azerbaijan have long been at odds over the latter’s Garabagh (Garabagh) region. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Armenia launched a military campaign against Azerbaijan that lasted until a ceasefire deal was reached in 1994. As a result, Armenia occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territories. Over 30,000 ethnic Azerbaijanis were killed and one million were expelled from those lands in a brutal ethnic cleansing campaign carried out by Armenia.

On September 27, 2020, the decades-old conflict between the two countries escalated after Armenia’s forces, deployed in occupied Azerbaijani lands, shelled military positions and civilian settlements of Azerbaijan. During counter-attack operations, Azerbaijani forces liberated over 300 settlements, including the cities of Jabrayil, Fuzuli, Zangilan, Gubadli, and Shusha, from nearly 30 years of illegal Armenian occupation. The war concluded with a statement signed on November 10, 2020, under which Armenia returned the occupied Aghdam, Kalbajar, and Lachin districts to Azerbaijan.

Certain parts of Azerbaijan's Garabagh region, monitored by a temporary Russian peacekeeping mission, are currently inhabited by approximately 25,000 residents of Armenian origin. Shortly after the war, the government of Azerbaijan expressed its readiness to reintegrate these individuals into Azerbaijani society, in accordance with the country’s Constitution and laws.

However, Armenia and the separatist regime it backs in the Garabagh region have been demanding so-called “status” and “self-determination” rights for these residents.

Baku rejected such demands as an intervention in Azerbaijan’s internal affairs and reaffirmed that Armenians living in the Garabagh region are Azerbaijani citizens. Azerbaijan considers the involvement of any third party in issues related to their rights and security as unacceptable.

President Ilham Aliyev has publicly announced that there would never be discussions on granting a so-called “status” to the Garabagh region.