Athens, 14 September 2022. Statement of the Secretary General of the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (I.A.O.) on Azerbaijan’s attack on Armenia
The Secretary General of the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (I.A.O.), Member of the Hellenic Parliament, Dr. Maximos Charakopoulos, on the occasion of the resumption of the war between Azerbaijan and Armenia, made the following statement: “The I.A.O. is following with particular concern the developments on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, following Azerbaijan’s violation of the Ceasefire Agreement of November 9, 2020, which once again turns the Eurasian region into a zone of destabilization. We recall our Statement on military operations in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, adopted on September 30, 2020, in which we called on “all parties to this conflict to return immediately without preconditions to the negotiating table, under the auspices of the Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group in order to save human lives”. We unequivocally and without exception condemn any kind of aggressive action and threat or use of force against the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of a State, which flagrantly violates the principles of the UN Charter. We call on the parties involved to immediately de-escalate and resort in good faith to the peaceful methods of resolving disputes, as provided for by international law and the fundamental principles on which international legal order is structured. We encourage both sides to take the necessary measures to preserve and protect the monuments of Armenian Christian spirituality and culture in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. We call on the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States (IPA CIS), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO PA) and other international and regional parliamentary institutions to make good use of all available means of parliamentary diplomacy to de-escalate hostilities. We stand in solidarity and with unconditional support to the Armenian people and the relatives of the victims of Azerbaijan’s unprovoked aggression.”