The Azerbaijani town of Shusha was occupied by Armenian armed forces twenty years ago, on May 8 1992. The occupation of Shusha was one of the stages of military aggression committed by Armenia to seize Azerbaijan`s Nagorno Karabakh region. The Armenian nationalists committed ethic purge in Nagorno Karabakh which led to displacement of Azerbaijani people from Shusha. 
Shusha was founded in 1756 by Panah Ali Khan Javanshir - ruler of Karabakh khanate, Azerbaijani feudal state. Before the occupation of the Northern Azerbaijan by tsarist Russia, Shusha was a residence of Karabakh khan and administrative center of the Karabakh khanate. This town played an important role in history of the state system, socio-economic and political and cultural life of Azerbaijan.
As a result of an aggressive war and policy of ethnic purge launched by Armenia against Azerbaijan in 1988 in order to realize its territorial claims, 20% of Azerbaijani territories were occupied, i.e., Nagorno Karabakh region, including Shusha city and adjacent seven regions - Lachin, Kalbajar, Agdam, Jabrail, Fizuli, Gubadli and Zangilan. More than one million Azerbaijanis were ousted from Armenia and the occupied regions of Azerbaijan, with over 18000 Azerbaijanis killed, more than 20000 peaceful residents wounded, more than 50000 people becoming a disabled, over 4000 people taken captive and went missing. 877 towns, villages and settlements were robbed, destroyed and burned. During the aggressive war, Armenian nationalists committed some crimes of genocide against Azerbaijani people, including the Khojaly tragedy.
The OSCE Minsk Group was set up in May 1992 to peacefully solve Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno Karabakh conflict. In 1993, the UN Security Council in the resolutions N 822, 853, 874 and 884 unambiguously reaffirmed the sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of borders of Azerbaijan and claimed to immediately and unconditionally withdraw the armed forces of Armenia from Azerbaijan`s occupied territories.
The European Union, the Council of Europe and other international organizations adopted relevant resolutions on Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno Karabakh conflict. All these documents unambiguously support territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and demand to put an end to occupation of Azerbaijani lands.
Unfortunately, resolutions of the international organizations on Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno Karabakh conflict have not been yet fulfilled. The OSCE Minsk group didn`t justified hopes. If one of the reasons is Armenia`s non-constructive position in a process of peaceful talks and its refusal to recognize Azerbaijan`s territorial integrity, then the other reason is that the aggressor was not called by its true name. In a number of cases, there is similar approach to the aggressor and the state subjected to the aggression, as for Armenian state, which ignores demands of the international community and challenges the international law, the necessary decisiveness is not demonstrated.
In this regard, the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan calls upon the European Parliament, the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, world parliaments and all forces, which are interested in resolution of the conflict, to combine their efforts. We expect that international community will demonstrate its decisive stand to remove the hotbed of the conflict, which threaten the world and stability not only in the South Caucasus region but also the whole Europe force Armenia to give up aggressive policy and restore territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

(Message was adopted at the session of Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan, on May 1 2012.)

AzerTAc