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In a move praised in Yerevan, Stepanakert and across the Armenian Diaspora, the Chamber of Deputies (Parliament) of Chile unanimously passed a resolution earlier this week condemning the “armed attack of Azerbaijan against the Nagorno Karabakh Republic” on Wednesday.
The resolution, introduced by Deputies Gustavo Hasbun Zelume, 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-Karabakh a Republic.
According to Asbarez.com, in its resolution 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-Karabakh 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.”
In an interview with Prensa Armenia agency Deputy Gustavo Hasbun Zelume said Azerbaijan’s actions constituted a violation to world peace and must be condemned by the world. He admitted that they received pressures from Turkey’s ambassador to Chile, so that this resolution could not be 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 Armenian National Committee of South America commended the move. Its director Alfonso Tabakian said: “We welcome the courageous position of Chilean Deputies, who unanimously broke with the prevailing hypocrisy of not naming the aggressor in the conflict.”
The grounds for the decision say that “on the night of 1 to 2 of last April, ground and air forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan conducted a large-scale attack on the border with the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, 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 casualties 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, whose co-presidents are the United States, Russia and France, sponsored by the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe.”
