During the 45th session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe (CoE Congress) held in Strasbourg, the Congress received 12 proposals for changes from the Armenian and Azeri delegations regarding the declaration on “The humanitarian situation in Karabakh and neighboring cities and regions.” During the plenary session, those proposals were discussed and put to a vote. Emin Yeritsyan, head of the Armenian delegation at the CoE Congress, proposed replacing the word Karabakh with the wording Nagorno-Karabakh in the declaration’s title.
Estonia, Moldova, Serbia, Lithuania, France, and Austria delegates signed the proposal. He announced during the plenary session: “We also discussed this issue during the session of the Bureau. That is not just a play on words. The Congress statement is about 100,000 refugees for whom Nagorno-Karabakh is a part of their identity. After the ethnic cleansing, Azerbaijan tries to dictate conditions to eliminate the cultural traces and identity. All international organizations, including PACE, used the name Nagorno-Karabakh. Congress also used the word Nagorno Karabakh in all its documents. Emin Yeritsyan said that if Azerbaijan decides to call Nagorno-Karabakh by another name tomorrow, it does not mean that Congress will change the names in its papers.
Bern Vöhringer, the declaration’s author, responded that he maintains neutrality and cannot satisfy all parties. He noted that the Bureau discussed and decided to use the expression Karabakh, the vocabulary used by the General Secretary of the Council of Europe. This proposal was not accepted.
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The Azerbaijani delegation proposed seven amendments, joined only by the Azerbaijani and Turkish delegates. Most of these recommendations were not accepted by the Congress. For example, they offered to remove the paragraph altogether stating that the Congress strongly condemns the military operation carried out by Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh and replace it with a section stating that the Congress expresses concern that the Armenian armed forces have not been withdrawn from Karabakh.
On this occasion, Emin Yeritsyan responded with a rhetorical question: “The entire population of Nagorno-Karabakh passed through the checkpoint set up by Azerbaijan; how many fake Armenian soldiers were exposed by Azerbaijan?” Bern Vöhringer also disagreed with this change and called for a vote against the proposal. The proposal was not accepted by the Congress.
Davit Khazhakyan, a member of the Armenian delegation at the CoE Congress, suggested that ethnic cleansing be fixed in the document and said: “This was a forced displacement because, within two or three days, more than 100,000 people were displaced from their birthplace to Armenia. About 30 thousand were children. When the Azerbaijani side says they are separatists, representatives of the Armenian armed forces, I want to emphasize that 30 thousand children were forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh with their parents. That is ethnic cleansing.”
The declaration’s author proposed not to accept the proposal and to wait for the reports of the CoE human rights commissioner, the special representative, who made observations in the region, and then discuss the issue. The proposal for this amendment was not accepted.
The Azerbaijanis wanted to add the so-called “Azerbaijani refugees” to the document, which was also not accepted by the Congress. They also wanted to remove from the paper the wording that states that the Congress joins the Parliamentary Assembly and the EU Committee of Regions in calling for the release of all Karabakh representatives detained in Azerbaijan. They wanted to remove the phrase representatives of Karabakh. Davit Khazhakyan said that this proposal is against human rights because we are talking not only about the representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh but also about many soldiers who have been held as hostages in Azerbaijan since the 2020 war. This Azerbaijani proposal was also not accepted.
Bern Voehringer said the paragraph should be preserved and proposed replacing Karabakh officials with the phrase “Karabakh representatives, including the local level.”
Bern Voehringer, stating that the ECHR adopted a decision regarding Azerbaijan on September 22, 2023, suggested adding the following phrase: “The Congress calls on the authorities of Azerbaijan to implement the interim measures included in the decision of the ECHR.” The Armenian delegation also had made such a proposal.
The Azerbaijanis proposed adding a paragraph that supposedly the Congress welcomes the quick steps taken by Azerbaijan to provide humanitarian aid, restore public and social services, and help alleviate the needs of the Armenian residents.
Davit Khazhakyan said: “When all the ethnic Armenians left Nagorno-Karabakh, only after that they announce that they provide all this. I propose to vote against this proposal. Bern Voehringer was also against this change, and Congress voted against this proposal.
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
Strasbourg
