Pro-Azeri PACE Rapporteur unwelcome in Karabakh: official

PanARMENIAN.Net - PACE Rapporteur Robert Walter’s report, “Escalation in Nagorno Karabakh and other occupied territories of Azerbaijan,” reflects only Azerbaijan’s position on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, thus clearly pre-determining its content and conclusions, Karabakh Deputy Foreign Minister said, according to RFE/RL Armenian Service.

“PACE Rapporteur Robert Walter sent a letter to Karabakh authorities on September 22, requesting for assistance to visit Artsakh,” Armine Aleksanyan said. “We reiterated Karabakh’s position in response. We are confident that such an approach violates the basic principles of the Council of Europe reports, i.e. impartiality and neutrality, and hinders cooperation with the authorities of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.”

According to Aleksanyan, the report will also address the political and military aspects of the conflict.

“We stressed, in particular, that issues relating to the settlement of the conflict are addressed in a consistent format, which has a mandate for mediation, recognized by the international community. Such a format agreed upon by all the three parties of the conflict is the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship, which has gained necessary experience and expertise to professionally and consistently tackle the issue,” the Deputy Foreign Minister said.

In response to a question concerning PACE’s role in the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, Aleksanyan said the Council of Europe and PACE will be able to make their unique contribution to the peace process by supporting democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

“Currently, PACE’s passive stance in view of Azerbaijan's rejection of the democratic values is confusing. It is not surprising that Azerbaijan develops a false sense of permissiveness, reflected in a statement of the head of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE, claiming “the Council of Europe belongs to Azerbaijan.” It is noteworthy that this phrase was uttered after Robert Walter vetoed the adoption of Christoph Strasser's report on political prisoners in Azerbaijan at the PACE winter session in 2013, arguing that the Rapporteur had not been able to visit Azerbaijan,” Aleksanyan noted.

Nagorno Karabakh shares the position of PACE President Anne Brasseur and Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland: all the citizens of the European zone should be able to benefit from the Council of Europe's standards, she said.