“The Azerbaijani authorities accuse the West of why they do not make the so-called question of occupation of Karabakh a subject for discussion. Just to shut down the voices of Azeris, they introduces this issue to the Council of Europe. This is the main reason for not denying the initiative for preparing a speech on Karabakh”, so responded the expert for the Center of Political and International Studies of Armenia, Ruben Mehrabyan, in the conversation with Aravot.am, referring to the positive response by the PACE to the initiative of Azerbaijan to prepare a speck on “Increase in Violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied territories of Azerbaijan”.
Note that a day before, the demand by the Armenian delegation to PACE, not to repaper a speech on the topic of Karabakh, was brought to voting and was rejected by 41 pros and 74 cons. Mr. Mehrabyan thinks that Azerbaijan, today, has become the target of the toughest criticism by the Council of Europe and the West, in general, because the human rights are strongly violated there. With this regard, the political scientist detailed, “Azerbaijan has turned into a concentration camp, and any dissent there may be a cause for prosecution. The government resorts a terror to the civil society, especially with regard to the Armenian -Azerbaijani relations. We know that there are many people there who are imprisoned for cooperating with Armenians, because it is re-qualified as espionage to the benefit of Armenia.”
Mr. Mehrabyan is not also happy with Armenia’s stance. “I am sorry that PACE has become an arena for altercation for Armenian and Azerbaijani delegations with each other. Leaving the basic problems aside, the delegations of the two countries are self-determining on the account of each other, trying to, let’s say, collecting points for the internal audience. The activities both by delegations of Azerbaijan and Armenia in PACE are extremely unproductive, which is proven by the deplorable situation of human rights in Azerbaijan, and the swamp, in which Armenia has appeared.”
Today, the member of the Armenian delegation to PACE, Naira Zohrabyan, in the conversation with us, expressed an opinion that PACE has turned into a “mini meglis daughter enterprise and there can be a moment when there will be a need for Armenia to discuss its future relations with this facility.” Mr. Mehrabyan is reluctant to discuss this stance, and simply said, “He who raises this question either has no clue about politics, or it is a subversive act against Armenia and the Armenian society.” To our question of what consequences the preparation of the speech on the topic of Karabakh in PACE to shut down the Azeris will have for Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, the expert replied. “It solely depends on Armenia’s stance and diplomatic activeness of Armenia. We know that our diplomacy is just miserable, the matter here is that the only platform where the Armenian -Azerbaijani relations are regulated is the Minsk Group. Azerbaijan, Russia and Turkey, together, have always sought to discredit the Minsk Group, to bring the process of the solution of the issue out of its format, and thus trying to extract concessions from Russia at the expense of Armenia’s interests.”
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To our specification that it turns out that the Armenian delegation to PACE is working unproductively, Mr. Mehrabyan replied, “Our delegations, in general, have and keep working inefficiently for years. Inefficiency is further exacerbated because of Armenia’s adopted shameful decision with regard to key issues, particularly the decisions of September 3 and the Crimea. All of this essentially drops the possibility of maneuvering by the Armenian delegation, and the delegation is engaged in how to shut down the Azeris’ nonsense divulging mouths in a fluent manner rather than being engaged in essential task, Armenia’s relations with Europe.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
