“This is not a report; it is a declaration. We aim to focus on the current humanitarian situation in Karabakh and neighboring cities. Due to the military operations carried out by Azerbaijan, the majority of the population of Karabakh had to leave that region. This is a serious challenge for Armenia and the local authorities of Armenia,” said Bernd Vöhringer (Germany), author of the Declaration “Humanitarian situation in Karabakh and neighboring cities and regions” in a conversation with Aravot.am.
To remind, during the 45th session of The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe (CoE Congress) held in Strasbourg, the declaration on the topic “Humanitarian situation in Karabakh and neighboring cities and regions” was adopted with a ratio of 55 “for” and 12 “against” votes.
The declaration’s author responded to our assertion that, contrary to all your warnings to stay within the framework of the discussed topic, the members of the Azerbaijani delegation were trying to manipulate the situation and take it to a different dimension. “Human rights, democracy, and the rule of law are important. We are convinced we should find a peaceful solution to the existing problems between the two member states. That is the essential thing. We must do it through dialogue. We need to resume and continue the dialogue. The only way for lasting peace is to talk to each other.”
We reminded him that during the discussion at the CoE Congress, Bernd Vöhringer said that the adoption of the Declaration is the first step; it will be followed by the proposal to organize a visit of the members of the Congress to the region. When asked what their next steps would be, Bernd Vöhringer replied: “We should have discussions based on different facts. At this moment, we cannot give evaluations. We need testimonials for ratings. As you know, the Human Rights Commissioner of the Council of Europe and the Special Representative of the Council of Europe on Migration issues are in the region and Armenia. When they publish their reports and present facts, then we can make assessments. In our declaration, we proposed to organize a visit to the region, RA, to talk with the people and have our personal impressions. For example, I am a reporter on refugee issues, and I need to see the situation in the region with my own eyes, how the local authorities act in that situation.”
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We asked how the Azerbaijani government views their possible visit to the region; he answered: “I am sure that the General Secretary of the Council of Europe and the Secretariat will contact the government of Azerbaijan, and this matter will be arranged.” To the question: why did you decide to change the accepted vocabulary because the name Nagorno-Karabakh was used in the previous statements of the of the CoE Congress, PACE statements, European Parliament statements, and the Karabakh version was used in the Congress Declaration, Bernd Vöhringer answered: “This is a difficult issue. We discussed it in the Bureau, the Secretariat. We focus on the local level, on the people, and we decided to be in line with the statements of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe because he is responsible for all bodies of the Council of Europe. We are one of the bodies of the Council of Europe; we follow the statements of the Secretariat.”
It should be noted that on the initiative of Bernd Vöhringer, the following phrase was also included in the Congress declaration: “The Congress calls on the authorities of Azerbaijan to implement the interim measures, the requirement of which is in the decision of the ECHR.” The author of the Declaration said: “This point should have been included in the Declaration. This was also done by the Parliamentary Assembly, the EU Committee of Regions. We included this point in our statement because there is a decision of the ECHR that requires Azerbaijan to respect the provisions of the conventions. The legal basis is important for the current discussions. So this is what we do normally, and this was an important issue that had to be included in the Declaration.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN, Strasbourg
