Armenian delegation to PACE has suffered a diplomatic defeat
PACE decided to prepare a report entitled “Rise in violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied territories of Azerbaijan”, based on which a resolution will be adopted. Pertaining to this, the ANC faction leader Levon Zurabyan announced that the title of the report is no longer subject to change, and that Robert Walter is appointed a PACE rapporteur, who is known for his pro-Azerbaijani orientation. Levon Zurabyan accused the authorities of Armenia in all of this, saying that 3-4 votes were missing to change at least the rapporteur, but the Armenian authorities did not do anything.
The event was more shamefully interpreted in the Azerbaijani media, according to which, disrespected attitude was demonstrated to the Armenian delegation to PACE, the presidency had asked to turn off the loudspeakers and the Armenian translation, had asked our delegation to leave the PACE hall and threatened to impose sanctions.
Pertaining to this, “Aravot” talked with RPA faction MP Khosrov Harutyunyan. In response to the question of whether the incident is a diplomatic defeat, which also weakened Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, Khosrov Harutyunyan said, “First of all, it is not a report, simply the PACE Bureau has decided to make a report on this subject name and appointed a rapporteur, the initiatives of which were the members of Spanish, Greek and Italian delegation, and all of this is just the consequence of Azerbaijani caviar diplomacy, and our delegation has also mentioned it in the PACE. The problem lies in the fact that PACE is trying to intervene in a process, which is beyond its mandate. People there know very well that the Karabakh conflict settlement is attributed to the OSCE structure, in particular, the Minsk Group and our delegation admonition, saying that you actually intervene in a sector, which is beyond your task, unfortunately, did not affect the parliamentarians.
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Secondly, basically, we are talking about changing the resolution of the conflict, which they do not even realize that Nagorno-Karabakh is not viewed by any international document as an occupied territory of Azerbaijan, and the statement of our delegation that if you go on like this and try to de facto wangle the conflict resolution, then we will refuse all the opportunities to cooperate on the report created by the commission or you, in my opinion, is a full expression of position. We should not forget that this is a parliamentary structure, where the issues are decided by voting and where there are different interests. It should be stated that the PACE, unfortunately, is gradually starting to betray its own values and principles.
As an example, I must note that the Council of Europe is chaired by Azerbaijan, a country where the violence against journalists and civil society activists is no longer evident fact for the international community, and on this background, the MPs instead of being concerned that Council of Europe has yielded to a state where the human rights are violated at every hour, and instead of making such issues a matter of discussion, about which our delegates have repeatedly said, they are taking another path, and this speaks to the fact that the PACE gradually loses its international reputation, and the Europeans circles are also thinking accordingly. Under these conditions, this resolution, the issue of preparing such report by the Bureau, remained on the agenda. I do not consider it a diplomatic defeat.
And I would like to remind you that the PACE leadership until now has made attempts to communicate with the co-chairs of the Minsk Group, but they refused, saying that this not the problem of your mandate. Unfortunately, this is a parliamentary structure and various decisions can be made there, but after listening to this report, it will go to the Committee of Ministers, where people are sitting, who are implementing great policy and are responsible for this policy, I’m sure that they definitely will reject or leave it unanswered. All of this will just become something like a political show for Azerbaijanis. I do not see any serious political consequences.”
To the observation that Levon Zurabyan accused the authorities of Armenia for appearing in the diplomatic isolation because of idleness, also because he felt humiliated when he saw how they were whistling to the Armenian delegates and throwing papers, Khosrov Harutyunyan replied that he is not aware of the details and added, “What do you mean saying a member of delegation? Levon Zurabyan is not representing the ANC there but Armenia. When the Armenian delegation was initiating an initiative to suspend the powers of Azerbaijani delegation, did the same Levon Zurabyan do something in this direction, or did he make a move towards the failure of this initiative by Azerbaijan?
I am sorry, let me doubt. Let him tell by facts what he did. Has he negotiate with anyone? Ultimately, he represents a faction there, he is in the staff of a committee. Has he tried to form supporters? If we are talking about failure, then not just of the government, it is not true that I am an opposition, then I do not bear responsibility. Forty-one people voted against this resolution, and it is just the result of the work by the Foreign Ministry and the embassies.” Mr. Harutyunyan added that considering the incident a diplomatic defeat means to present the wishes for reality.
Eva HAKOBYAN
