According to political scientist Armen Vardanyan, one of the peculiarities of the resolution adopted by the European Parliament is that for the first time, Armenophobia was registered in this document. “This resolution is quite positive. We must try to ensure that the resolution is followed by tough sanctions if Azerbaijan continues its policy of destroying the Armenian cultural heritage in the occupied territories. Serious work must be done here so that this is not just a resolution, but more concrete steps are followed,” said political scientist Armen Vardanyan in a conversation with Aravot.
The European Parliament passed a resolution on “Destruction of cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh” with 635 votes in favor, 2 against, and 42 abstentions. Aravot asked Ara Ghazaryan, a specialist in international law, why the European Parliament did not make such reservations on the issue of Armenian prisoners of war, whom Azerbaijan refuses to return. In response, Ara Ghazaryan recalled how the Council of Europe passed a resolution on the prisoners of war and said, “These are political processes. The process has so many different layers, which depend on the ability of the lobbyists, the conjuncture, and different factors.”
According to political scientist Armen Vardanyan, one of the peculiarities of the resolution adopted by the European Parliament is that Armenophobia is registered in this document for the first time. According to him, it depends on the work done by our state how we can use the resolution for ourselves in the future. “The peculiarity is that the term Armenophobia was introduced for the first time. I do not remember such a term being used. This means that serious work has been done and bad consequences are expected for Azerbaijan in this regard. We must continue to work in this direction to show the international community what is happening today. The European Parliament is a complex structure. If we want to succeed, we must work hard with the political parties in the European Parliament. We probably haven’t done a good job with the prisoners of war because there are no such resolutions.”
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In response to the question of whether the European Parliament has a procedure to impose sanctions on Azerbaijan if it does not fulfill the requirements set out in the resolution, the political scientist answered, “The European Parliament and the European institutions have those procedures. Not only European institutions, but also other international organizations and UNESCO. They can force Azerbaijan to preserve Armenian historical and cultural heritage. Of course, there are many tools and means here, and we must use all of them.” When asked what means in particular, Armen Vardanyan answered, “Sanctions can be imposed on Azerbaijan, in particular. In many issues, even in the Council of Europe and other structures, it is possible to take direct steps against the Azerbaijani side in the form of sanctions and other forms. There are more professional structures for that. Our foreign ministry and parliament must deal with it, as well as the extra-parliamentary forces that have ties to the European Parliament.”
In response to our statement that the resolution adopted by the European Parliament calls on UNESCO to send a fact-finding mission to Nagorno-Karabakh to assess the situation on the ground and to monitor whether Azerbaijan continues to block international organizations from entering Nagorno-Karabakh, and to our question of whether there is enough pressure on Azerbaijan for it to avoid preventing that mission’s entrance to Nagorno-Karabakh, Armen Vardanyan answered, “There is not enough pressure at the moment, but if it works properly, that pressure will be there. In general, diplomacy and politics are the art of the possible. With the right work, the problem can be solved. It is important that there is international pressure, including from the governments of European countries, and that pressure will increase day by day.”
Armen Vardanyan said that it is obvious that this resolution will not be to the liking of Azerbaijan, and he thinks that the work should continue on a daily basis. According to Armen Vardanyan, we must achieve that the resolution brings a corresponding policy towards Azerbaijan. According to the political scientist, the Armenian government should drum up this issue everywhere, on all possible platforms, and try to put pressure on Azerbaijan through European structures, and through the right work, according to the political scientist, it is quite possible. Azerbaijan will give in to that pressure.
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
