12 September 2014
The Hon. Fred Nile, MLC
Parliament House
Macquarie Street
Sydney NSW 2000
We, the Azerbaijani community of Australia, are deeply disappointed over your recent misleading, biased and raciest motion distorting the facts and realities on the intensive and deadly violation of the ceasefire between Azerbaijan and Armenia by Armenian Armed Forces and Armenian-backed armed separatists from late July to early August with a view to derailing the internationally-brokered negotiations on the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
Nagorno Karabakh is officially recognized by the all United Nations member states including the Commonwealth of Australia as a sovereign territory of Azerbaijan. It is under illegal occupation by Armenian Armed Forces.
The UN Security Council has to date issued four resolutions (#822, #853, #874, #884) on unconditional and immediate withdrawal of Armenian military forces from the occupied lands of Azerbaijan, in addition to the repeated resolutions by the UN General Assembly. The resolutions mentioned are publicly available on the official website of the United Nations.
There are similar resolutions by the Council of Europe (CoE), European Parliament (EP), European Union (EU), Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) and other international organizations, publicly available on their respective official websites and bulletins.
The OSCE Minsk Group, co-chaired by the United States, France and Russia, has been endeavoring to broker a negotiated deal to end the deadly conflict within the cardinal principles of international law and the UN, including territorial integrity and inviolability of sovereign borders.
Dear Mr Nile, although we are well aware of your hatred against Muslims and multiculturalism, we are very disturbed to see you involved in Armenian lobby groups’ misleading smear campaign worldwide using misquotations and misinformation to portray the Republic of Azerbaijan as the culprit of the aforementioned escalation with the intention of achieving international recognition of the so-called “Republic of Nagorno Karabakh” in the internationally recognized territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Totally differently from what is presented in your motion, recently inspired by the separatist movements in Ukraine, the Armenian Army and Armenian-backed armed separatists started to violate the 1994 ceasefire agreement, killing 15 Azerbaijani servicemen between the 28th of July and the 3rd of August, and shooting Azerbaijani civilians including children. It was an attempt to torpedo the ongoing negotiations mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group on the peaceful settlement of the conflict, and to destabilize the region where Azerbaijan, as a major source of energy resources, is seen as the main alternative oil and gas supplier for the European Union.
This happens amid the European Union’s endeavour to diversify its energy sources and routes to reduce its reliance on Russian supplies.
Armenian Army and Armenian-backed armed separatists continued to violate the ceasefire although the United Nations Secretary General, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the United States Department of State and the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation expressed deep concerns over the escalation of violence and violation of the ceasefire agreement. Unfortunately, the motion moved by you misquotes these statements as against Azerbaijan, where there is no mention of such a fact in those documents.
We would like to mention that the Republic of Azerbaijan, as a victim of the Armenian military separatist aggression, has been left with nearly 1 million refugees and internally displaced persons (IDP) as reflected in the emergency humanitarian assistance resolutions adopted at the UN General Assembly, including the 48th session, and in formal instruments of international human rights organizations. Given a population of 9 million, Azerbaijan has the highest number of refugees and IDPs per capita in the world.
Dear Mr Nile, it is disappointing that your motion, undoubtedly based on the data of Armenian side without any research and analysis and affected by your personal prejudices, is contradictory to the position and values of the Commonwealth of Australia, incites hatred between the communities in Australia, and completely distorts the actual facts about the roots of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, including the dates, figures, quotations and developments.
Yours sincerely,
[Signed]
Imametdin Kassoumov
President of Azerbaijani-Australian-Turkish Friendship