Member of the Armenian delegation to PACE, also Leader of Prosperous Party of Armenia, Naira Zohrabyan, in the interview with Aravot.am, informed that the report on “Rise in violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied territories of Azerbaijan”, initiated in the PACE, will be ready no sooner than the January session. Note that still a year ago, the Assembly passed a resolution and instructed the British delegate Robert Voltaire to prepare a report on the aforementioned subject. The Armenian delegation refused to take part in the preparations of the report, and this approach has not been changed so far.
In this respect, Ms. Zohrabyan noted, “We have repeatedly stated that the PACE is not a platform for conflict discussion and moreover for conflict solution and, the PACE intervening in the Karabakh conflict settlement matter is directly deviating from its core mandate. If the PACE is so eager to deal with this problem, it should deal with the human rights in Nagorno-Karabakh at the maximum.” Ms. Zohrabyan believes that this resolution is the result of the Turkish-Azerbaijani-British lobby, which PACE is interested in, and this report is anti-Armenian like the shameful resolution of Atkinson in 2005. Naira Zohrabyan emphasized, “We will not take part in the preparation of a report that has long been written and put on the appropriate shelves in London and Robert Voltaire will only put down his signature in the January session.” Naira Zohrabyan also informed that they will not take part in the works of the subcommittee on Nagorno-Karabakh issues, which follows the same goal as the preparation of the report.
Ms. Zohrabyan reminded about delegate Voltaire’s desire to visit Armenia and said, “The rapporteur should not come to Armenia but go to Nagorno-Karabakh and take a permission from the NKR authorities for the visit. And if he wants to come to Armenia as a guest, then we are hospitable people, and we can host him and any PACE delegate.” Ms. Zohrabyan believes that this report, as well as the report of Atkinson, will not have a legal force rather than “Azerbaijan will just receive a propaganda tool to proclaim this or that touch provision of the report.” For comparison, Ms. Zohrabyan mentioned the report on the Sarsang reservoir and said, “A rapporteur is appointed and it is Ms. Milica Markovic, who until the last moment is stubbornly convinced that the reservoir is located in Armenia. For a long time, we tried to explain that it is located in Karabakh, but the woman’s geographical abilities are too limited as she is sure that it is in Armenia. ”
Read also
Naira Zohrabyan said that the MP Levon Khachatryan has expressed willingness to accompany Markovic to the Aparan reservoir on her arrival to Armenia, and if it is sufficient to write down a report on the Sarsang reservoir, then “No Comment”. Naira Zohrabyan also said that although she is not a member of the political commission, however, she is aware that the rapporteur should present her work to the Commission on 28 September. To our observation that if she has not visited Artsakh, so what she is going to submit, Ms. Zohrabyan replied, “We are also concerned about this issue. We have also stated that Voltaire needs to send an official letter to the Karabakh authorities, which he refuses doing it.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
