Member of the New South Wales State Parliament, Fred Nile, declared in a Parliamentary Statement that the Azerbaijani persecution of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians was based upon the genocidal policy undertaken by the Ottoman Turkish Government against Armenians in the early part of the 20th century, Asbarez newspaper reports.

“The lack of an appropriate punishment for the Ottoman perpetrators led their Turkic brethren in Azerbaijan to brazenly adopt the same genocidal policy with respect to the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh,” he said addressing the parliament.

Nile then described Azerbaijan’s continued threats against the civilian Armenian population of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, concluding that the only means of preventing a second Armenian Genocide was for the world to acknowledge Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence, the newspaper writes.

“Tonight, in the New South Wales Parliament I place on record my support for the application of the principle of self-determination for the people and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.”

“The Azerbaijani Government announced it would shoot down civilian aircraft in Nagorno-Karabakh, and Azerbaijani President Ilham Allyev declared that Azerbaijan would pursue a military solution to the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh. These actions and threats prove that in order to prevent a second Armenian genocide and secure a lasting peace, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic must never be placed under Azerbaijani rule,” he said.