Tatoyan: PACE report includes Ombudsman's proposal on security zone

PanARMENIAN.Net - A report approved by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe includes a proposal by Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan on the creation of a demilitarized zone around Armenia's borders, Tatoyan said on Tuesday, September 28.

Tatoyan said he introduced his evidence-based proposal to the PACE rapporteur, maintaining that the only effective way to prevent the criminal actions of the Azerbaijani armed forces is to create a (demilitarized) security zone.

The Assembly said it is greatly concerned by the increase in incidents at various points of the border since May 2021, when the Azerbaijani armed forces violated the ceasefire. There have been deaths and injuries and Armenian soldiers have been taken captive.

"The Assembly therefore calls on both sides to: de-escalate and keep to the positions agreed by the parties under the Trilateral statement; negotiate on a process of delimitation and demarcation of the border and examine the possibility of creating a demilitarised zone with the presence of a peacekeeping or military monitoring force," the report reads.

According to Tatoyan, the delimitation and demarcation of borders without the establishment of a security zone won't ensure the rights of Armenia's border residents and will instead cause new violations and more tension.

The Ombudsman has said in the past that top Azerbaijani officials are only building up their anti-Armenian rhetoric, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev constantly speaks in the language of threats, and Azerbaijan hasn't returned Armenian prisoners of war and captives, causing mental suffering to them and their families.