The head of the Armenian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Hermine Naghdalyan, in an interview with Aravot.am informed that no Nagorno-Karabakh conflict issue was discussed at the session of the Ad-hoc Subcommittee of the PACE Monitoring Committee.
Note that the information was spread that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict issue has been discussed at the session of the Ad-hoc Subcommittee of the PACE Monitoring Committee on Council of Europe member countries’ conflicts. Mrs. Naghdalyan explained that the session summed up the Committee’s annual performance and during this one year there was no issue related to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and only issues related Moldova and Cyprus were discussed. The other event which took place during the PACE spring session was the publication of the declaration on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which was signed by 44 deputies.
We wondered about the force of this declaration, Mrs. Naghdalyan replied, “It may have the force as all PACE documents. They are advisory in nature but also reflect the political approaches and sentiments that are available with PACE. This statement speaks of the deep concern and anxiety that the European Parliamentarians have pertaining to the unprecedented escalation of the situation on the line of contact, unauthorized use of the weapons, death of civilians and soldiers. It also calls on to return to the Minsk Group peace process and introduce mechanisms necessary for the investigation of the ceasefire violations.” During the PACE plenary session, quite tough speeches were reported on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
We wondered about the overall sentiment of the PACE delegates, whether they acknowledge that Azerbaijan attacked, Mrs. Naghdalyan replied, “On the very first days of the April events and during the activities of the PACE plenary session, we had conducted numerous meetings in political groups with the representatives of national delegations and a large number of delegates. The purpose of these meetings is raise awareness and create Armenophile disposition.”
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We wondered that after this decision when it was decided at the session of the PACE Political Bureau not to discuss any proposal related to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as a current issue, so whether Azerbaijan came up with a new initiative, Mrs. Naghdalyan replied, “Nothing is initiated yet. We consider it positive that the discussion of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue was removed. In this platform where Azerbaijanis have many lobbyists, national, religious and other significant support, it makes no sense to discuss issues in non-objective nature. The platform for the discussion of the Karabakh issue is where the real competence is going to discuss the issue, in other words, the OSCE Minsk Group rather than giving a parallel chance for them to lead processes by other platforms.”
Mrs. Naghdalyan considers the criticisms against the delegation groundless and notes, “Four days, from morning to evening, all the members are having meetings with separate deputies and delegations, discussions and speeches, with small resources we are trying to make great work. Why are they criticizing? We have distribute our booklets, photographs and other documentary materials about the incident. Only in one year, this delegation has suspended Azerbaijan’s major and large-scale attempts for three times.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
