The international community has pronounced the May 23 parliamentary elections in the break-away region of Nagorno-Karabakh as illegal.
The European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, warned that the parliamentary elections were not legal and the vote "should not prejudice the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict" and urged all parties to redouble efforts to find a negotiated solution to the conflict. Similarly, Robert Hilton, Speaker of the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs of the US Department of State, stated that “The independence of Nagorno-Karabakh hasn’t been recognized by the United States or any other nations. The so-called parliamentary elections held in Nagorno-Karabakh shouldn’t prejudge the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh in terms of talks on the settlement to the conflict.” The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs also issued a similar statement.
Turkey and Azerbaijan condemned the parliamentary elections as a breach of international law and an obstacle to solving the conflict. The Turkish Foreign Ministry said the polls are in violation of international law and illegal, adding that they cast a “shadow on regional stability and reduce to zero the efforts of the international mediators on the peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.”
There is universal recognition in international law and the international community that Nagorno-Karabakh remains legally part of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Up to 1 million Azeris who have lived in this region for centuries were forcibly displaced from 1988-1994 during the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
