The House of Representatives has expressed its full support for the sovereignty of fellow Muslim-majority state Azerbaijan and it seeks a peaceful resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, says House Speaker Marzuki Alie.
Marzuki discussed the Nagarno-Karabakh issue as well as the resolution of the 7th PUIC (Parliamentary Union of the OIC) Conference in Palembang with chairman of Commission I. He himself visited Azerbaijan in April this year to see the plight of Nagarno-Karabakh refugees.
“The House leader is in the opinion that the Indonesian legislative body should support the sovereignty and unity of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Indonesia supports the principle of respecting the integrity of a country’s area and its borders that have been officially recognized internationally, “ Marzuki said recently in a speech, which was made available to The Jakarta Post on Friday, during the House plenary meeting’s closing session in Jakarta.
“We support a peaceful resolution to the Nagarno-Karabakh issue based on the UN Security Council’s four resolutions in the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group”.
In 1992, Armenian troops invaded Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh territory with the support of former Soviet Union troops. Till today, Armenia occupies around 20 percent of Azerbaijan territory.
As of late, relations between Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority state, and oil-rich Azerbaijan have been moving on a fast trajectory with mutual high level visits, including the high-profile visits of
Coordinating Minister for Economy Hatta Rajasa, Marzuki, Azerbaijan’s Defense Industry Minister Yavar Jamalov, The chairman of Azerbaijan’s parliament ,Milli Mejlis Ogtay Asadov, and Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, between the two countries.
Azerbaijan’s president will visit Indonesia early next year to further strengthen ties.
In his speech, Marzuki made a passionate appeal to the government.
“We would also like to express our deepest sympathies for the mass killings in the city of Khojaly. The Indonesian legislative body requests that the government not open its representative office in Armenia until the dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia is resolved,” he said.
Khojaly is a town in Nagarno-Karabakh where Armenian troops killed more than 600 people, including women and children on the night of Feb. 25, 1992.
The Foreign Ministry has yet to respond to Marzuki’s request for the opening of an Indonesian diplomatic mission in Armenia. Instead, Armenia will be opening its embassy in Jakarta soon.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan Ambassador to Indonesia Tamerlan Karayev said on Friday that economic ties between Indonesia and Azerbaijan were growing at a fast rate.
“We, based on Indonesian statistics, exported US$1.40 billion worth of oil to Indonesia during nine months of this year,” Ambassador Karayev told The Jakarta Post.
ANN.Az
