Report on One-Year Activity of RA NA Delegation to OSCE PA Presented
On July 26, during the press conference the Head of the RA NA Delegation to OSCE PA, the Chair of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations Eduard Aghajanyan summed up the one-year activity of the NA Delegation to OSCE PA and positively evaluated it.
According to him, the agenda of the autumn session of the previous year, conditioned by the pandemic, was free from political content. However, the Head of the NA Delegation had a number of important meetings, during which presented the regional reality to the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Special Representative and other high ranking official, acquainted them the ongoing processes and problems. Before the summer session Eduard Aghajanyan and the member of the RA NA Delegation, the NA deputy Maria Karapetyan visited Lithuania, met with the Delegation of Lithuania to the OSCE PA and the Rapporteur of the OSCE PA Committee on Political Affairs and Security, the Lithuanian deputy. The also presented them in detail the situation in our region and informed them about the problems.
According to Eduard Aghajanyan, the meetings were substantive.
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Eduard Aghajanyan also noted that the very first day of the Winter Session Meeting coincided with the events in Ukraine. “Beginning from that moment, the entire attention of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly was focused on this conflict. Practically, frankly, it was very difficult to focus the attention of the Parliamentary Assembly on any other issue, including, naturally, also on the ongoing processes in our region,” the Head of the NA Delegation said, assuring that, nevertheless, they delivered speeches on the ongoing processes in the region, thoroughly presented the problems, which still exist and need to be solved.
In Cyprus the Armenian side presented the anti-corruption sphere and problems of our country,
In the OSCE PA Summer Session the NA Delegation in its reports on politics and human rights presented three proposals, which, according to the Head of the NA Delegation, despite the less difference of votes were rejected. “These referred to the ongoing processes in the region, the conflict, which after November 9, 2020 practically continues, and there are pending items, which are not solved. These changes aimed at focusing the attention of the international community and the OSCE PA to the pending items, which are not solved until now. We voiced our assessment: we have condemned that position of the OSCE PA,” Eduard Aghajanyan said and added that it is unacceptable, when the OSCE PA focused its attention only to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
One of the proposals of the Armenian side related to the problem of prisoners of war, the issue of the protection of the cultural heritage was also put forward.
Before entering into agenda, the members of different delegations should collect minimum number of signature for amendments. As the Head of the NA Delegation assured, at the beginning their amendments had maximum number of support from different delegates. “They related, mainly, to the pending problems of captives, which is not solved until now from November 9, 2020, despite the fact that there is provision regarding it in the trilateral statement. Different international organizations repeatedly touched upon it, and any reason why the OSCE PA should refuse touching upon that topic, we don’t see. The next item referred to the protection of the cultural heritage. The other one – the activity of the OSCE Minsk Group and its importance,” Eduard Aghajanyan said.
The Armenian Delegation also underscored the importance of solving the Artsakh problem in the format of the OSCE Minks Group Co-Chairmanship. The Head of the Delegation assured that in the proposed amendments all the substantiations were available. The rapporteurs of the two Committees expressed distinct positions after voting to leave the text unchanged. The rapporteur’s position on the given issues is decisive.
Regarding the workstyle of the Azerbaijani delegation, Eduard Aghajanyan noted that the Azerbaijani delegation, in fact, adopted tactics of accusations of the same content. According to him, in these many accusations the OSCE PA colleagues’ perceptions can be a bit distorted, and the reality is difficult to bring into light in such conditions.
The speakers answered the journalists’ questions.
Edaurd Aghajanyan did not exclude that in the near future a meeting between the heads of Armenia and Azerbaijan will take place.
As Maria Karapetyan assured, our country negotiates with Turkey without preconditions. According to her, all efforts should be made in order the agreements will come true.
The member of the NA Delegation to the OSCE PA, the NA deputy Hripsime Grigoryan noted that it was repeatedly mentioned by the representatives of her political team and highest leadership, the Prime Minister that the steps being taken by Armenia, are not one-sided. “It is necessary for the peace agenda that our reagional colleagues coordinate, which we don’t often see, as they are inclined constructively Armenia will always strive for peace: the current Government received a mandate for that,” the deputy noted.
The member of the NA Delegation to the OSCE PA, the NA deputy Sargis Khandanyan also expressed the same conviction, noting that it is necessary to solve all the problems for the formation of the peace agenda in the region.
National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia