The Swedish parliament hall

STOCKHOLM—The Parliament of Sweden on Wednesday May 9 rejected an Azer-sponsored motion on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which went against the principles set forth by the international mediators.

The motion, introduced last year by Green Party member of parliament Mehmet Kaplan called for, among other provisions, Sweden’s active involvement in the Karabakh conflict resolution process; demanded “immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all Armenian military forces from occupied Azeri territory” and that international organizations should work “for guarantying the safety, security and self-rule of the Armenian minority in Nagorno-Karabakh within the territorial boundaries of Azerbaijan.”

The members of parliament, known as the Riksdag, found that the motion deviated significantly from the existing negotiated proposals, including the so-called Madrid Principles. Since the motion was signed by one member of parliament, was not allowed separate consideration and was voted rejected within a bundle of other legislation.

Instead, the parliament adopted another motion, which contained wording put for by the legislature’s Foreign Committee, which said: “The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict needs a peaceful resolution and there is a mechanism to handle the issue. This is the responsibility of the Minsk Group. The Committee supports the efforts which are ongoing within the framework of OSCE.”

It must be noted that the measure that was adopted included language about the ongoing EU Eastern Partnership Program with the states in South Caucasus, especially in the spheres of “democracy, freedom of press and respect for human rights.”

The adopted measure said, “The Committee notes that the negotiations with the three countries in the association treaty with EU have continued and that Georgia and Armenia have made major progress while the negotiations with Azerbaijan have been more complicated.”

The aforementioned language was also drafted by the parliamentary Foreign Committee.