According to him, the resolution adopted by PACE in 2005 was not so terrible as the title of this speech
“This is just the consequence of recruiting a barren, unproductive and unprofessional delegation”, so responded the member of 2007-2012 NATO parliamentary Assembly, Stepan Safaryan, in response to the question of Aravot.am of whether the decision made by PACE to prepare a report on Nagorno-Karabakh based on the draft resolutions of Azerbaijan is a result of the Azerbaijani oil-dollars effect, or the negligence of the Armenian delegation to PACE. Mr. Safaryan is outraged by this fact. He associates it to the fact that “our delegation members are excessively engaged in PR rather than acting.” Then, he added, “Unfortunately we either are servicing someone else’s interests, or do not follow what’s going on.”
Stepan Safaryan recalls that even Azerbaijan was not hiding the fact that he is going to put resolutions into circulation, which are aimed at imposing sanctions against Armenia. The other factor is that recently Azerbaijani President often “rebukes” the international organizations that they do not fulfill the resolutions adopted thereof, and they have forgotten the Karabakh problem, and in fact, they had to use their presidency for the adoption of any resolution on Karabakh conflict. Mr. Safaryan notices, “The affairs of Azerbaijan and the West are too tense, and it is sad that in front of the whole world, Azerbaijan itself, in fact, broke the cease-fire mode, and now it adopts a resolution, a report, the title of which seems to legitimizing Azerbaijan’s proprietary to the lands and mitigating the sentiment towards it.”
Mr. Safaryan believes that our delegates should have discussed Azerbaijan’s behavior promptly after the August events, which they failed to do. On the contrary, Azerbaijan hereby proofreads its actions. “It submitted so many resolutions that PACE and Europe got tired, and to somehow satisfy its whims, winning its favor, thus trying to induce to improve the human rights situation, is making such a gesture.” And Armenia remains neglected, because its delegates, according to Mr. Safaryan, “are engaged in PR, making some ad-hoc statements, or simply raising questions during the sessions or attaching statements to the protocols and disseminating them through the Armenian mass media.” Stepan Safaryan warned that with such steps “they cannot deceive the one who understands diplomacy.” He was outraged, “Ilham Aliyev threatens the international organizations and countries, and endangers their interests, implements a policy, which torpedoes the plans of the West, and to do nothing under this situation, moreover, to allow them to prepare such a report, I would not call it a lack of talent but dilettantism.”
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To our question of whether it was right announcing during the discussion of the report on Karabakh that they will not collaborate and leaving the hall, Mr. Safaryan responded, “It is not right to take a stance of a sulky child and then come to justify is not right. To justify their sulky stance, they would come and say that, you know, the British have oil interests in Azerbaijan, and it will be hidden from the public that all of this is the consequence of inaction. First of all, this should not be allowed to happen, therefore there should be a pressure on Azerbaijan, and an operative action was required.” Mr. Safaryan noted that the 2005 PACE adopted resolution was not that much terrible as the title of this report and emphasizes, “Everything should be done to change the title of the report name up to putting it in another context. There is no other option, we need to cooperate rather than leaving and coming home with a sulky stance and give press conferences, of course, leaves no room for positive expectations.”
Stepan Safaryan is outraged of what the Armenian delegates were doing in summer, none of them wrote a letter to the presidency of PACE that Azerbaijan is violating its commitments to regulate the conflict peacefully, which it had assumed when becoming a PACE member.
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
Photo by “Yerkir Media” TV
