On January 26, the Ambassador of Armenia to Ukraine, prior to the voting of the anti-Armenian reports at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, had meetings with the members of the Ukrainian delegation to PACE. In an interview with Aravot.am, NA RPA MP, Chairman of Foreign Relations Committee, Artak Zakaryan, noted that he was also in Ukraine. Note that at the PACE winter session on January 26, British MP Robert Walter’s report on “Escalation in violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied territories of Azerbaijan” was rejected by 66 votes for, 70 against and 45 abstentions and was sent back to the Political Affairs’ Committee.
The report by rapporteur Milica Marković (Bosnia) “Inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water” was adopted by 98 for, 71 against and 40 abstentions. The Ukrainian delegation has 12 members at the PACE. We found out from the results of voting that 4 people from the Ukrainian delegation took part in the voting for Walter’s report and all of them have voted for. Ten people took part in the voting for the report of Milica Marković, of which 9 of them voted in favor and 1 abstention. Artak Zakaryan noted that the members of the Ukrainian delegation could not vote for Walter’s report because initially the issue of territorial integrity was considered. “But at the same time, realizing the difference, they have not hindered us and support without participating in the vote. We highly appreciate their approach. Their decision was very important for us because if they had voted as they have initially decided, Walter’s report would also have passed.”
As for the report by rapporteur Milica Marković, the members of the Ukrainian delegation viewed as a humanitarian issue. According to Artak Zakaryan, the same problem occurred with the delegation of the Republic of Moldova, “When we met them, all five had decided to vote in favor of Walter’s report. They also viewed the issue in the light of territorial integrity. After a long conversation, except for the one, they also decided to vote abstained.” The Chairman of NA Foreign Affairs Committee noted that in future, everything must be done to exclude the emerging of such reports, “It is not possible all the time to work in a fireman mode. Now, we are working in a fireman mode but it cannot always be successful. We must prevent the access of all such resolutions to the agenda of PACE and other assemblies.” Referring to the adoption of the report by rapporteur Milica Marković, Artak Zakaryan said that it is necessary to think about a new report balancing to it.
Ashot ISRAELYAN
