Chile Condemns Azeri Aggression against Artsakh
SANTIAGO, Chile (Agencia Prensa Armenia)—The Chamber of Deputies of Chile unanimously passed a historic resolution on May 18, condemning the “armed attack of Azerbaijan against the Nagorno-Karabagh Republic.”
Chile’s Chamber of Deputies (Photo: Leandro Kibisz)
The resolution, introduced by Deputies Gustavo Hasbun Selume, Issa Kort Garriga, Denise Pascal Allende, Aldo Cornejo Gonzalez, and Jorge Sabag Villalobos, sets a crucial precedent, since it is the first in South America that condemns the attacks of Azerbaijan and also calls Nagorno-Karabagh a “Republic.”
The Chilean Chamber of Deputies “reaffirms its commitment to peace and urges the Republic of Azerbaijan for the immediate cessation of all acts of war against the Republic of Nagorno-Karabagh and the strict observance of the truce signed by both countries in 1994” and “requests the Government of Chile to urge the parties to circumscribe the conflict settlement within the framework of the negotiations held in the Minsk Group, and thus avoiding a regional explosion with unpredictable consequences.”
“What Azerbaijan is doing undoubtedly marks a break not only of bilateral and international relations, but a permanent violation to the world peace and has to be condemned by the world, the citizenship and especially countries like ours, that feel some degree of brotherhood with Armenia,” said Deputy Gustavo Hasbun Zelume, president of the Armenian-Chilean Group of Friendship and the one who presented the project. “This will allow Chile to take a more active role in defending the sovereignty of individual countries,” he added.
The deputy admitted that they received pressure from Naciye Gökçen Kaya, ambassador of Turkey in Chile, so that the resolution is not approved, like the one approved last year, in which the Chamber of Deputies of Chile sympathized “with the Armenian nation condemning the genocide of its people that began in 1915.”
“The Chamber of Deputies is autonomous and will not allow pressures from any country to come and say how we as parliamentarians have to act in defense of justice, peace, and human rights, and in defense of people being oppressed,” added Hasbun Zelume.
“We welcome the courageous position of Chilean Deputies, who unanimously broke with the prevailing hypocrisy of not naming the aggressor in the conflict. We hope that this statement, in line with the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OEA) Luis Almagro last April 3, will mark a path for the countries of the region,” said Alfonso Tabakian, Director of the Armenian National Committee (ANC) of South America.
The grounds for the decision say that “on the night of April 1 to 2, ground and air forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan conducted a large-scale attack on the border of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabagh, with heavy artillery and last generation missiles” and that aggression represented “the most flagrant violation of the Ceasefire Agreement signed by both countries in May 1994 and a breach of UN rules on Pacific Settlement of Disputes.”
“Faced with this new escalation of violence that has already claimed numerous civilian and military victims, Chile condemns the aggression, calls for the cessation of military operations and the continuation of the peace negotiations within the framework of the Minsk Group,” the resolution stated.
Source: Armenian Weekly Mid-West
