The anti-Azerbaijani statement passed at the plenary sitting of the Senate of Spain on 17 October is deplorable and we, the Working Group for the Azerbaijani-Spain Inter-Parliamentary Connexions, refute categorically and condemn strongly this biased and lopsided declaration.

Serious questions arise, if only because due to the sheer absurdity of that the Senate of Spain, which had never once in all those years reacted to the thirty-year-long Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territories, the more than 1 million of our compatriots having faced Armenia’s ethnic cleansing policy and been evicted from their native lands, or the destruction of our towns and villages, and the annihilation of our cultural, historical and religious heritage, will now assume the role of an ‘accuser’ and make claims rather departed from the reality.

The text of the statement passed by the Senate of Spain demonstrates how far removed it is from the current regional reality and shows clearly that it is based on the misinformation fed in by the Armenian Lobby.

We are telling the Senate of Spain that the anti-terrorist measures undertaken by the Azerbaijani State specifically eliminated the aggressive separatism as the biggest obstacle on the path to regional peace, security and stability. Today, the Government of Azerbaijan continues the successful efforts to reintegrate the Armenian residents of the Garabagh Region of the Azerbaijan Republic with the Azerbaijani society and to address the said region’s social, humanitarian, economic and infrastructural issues. The representatives of the specialist units of the United Nations who had visited this region confirm the above in their reports and declarations.

Another thought-provoking factor is that, paradoxically enough, it is the Senate of Spain, a state itself suffering from separatism, would with this statement manifest respect for the principles of territorial integrity and sovereignty and would wholeheartedly support aggressive separatism, thus obstructing the endeavours to install lasting peace and stability in our region.

We, the Working Group for the Azerbaijan-Spain Inter-Parliamentary Connexions, categorically protest against this statement passed by the Senate of Spain.